Matt in the comics is taught those aerial moves because Stick's own training goes back to an Eastern style, not Western. Matt's influence in the grounded end of his very distinct spectrum of fighting abilities is based on his father, Jack, and Western boxing. It's slower, more strength and power based (this is more of Matt's offense, at the expense that he leaves himself open more often). But the aerial moves come from the Eastern philosophies Stick taught him, which is faster, lighter, less powerful (more defensive, less likely to get hit, but requires much more less powerful attacks).
I know fandom calls Matt a tiny ninja, but the moves Matt used really are Eastern forms, it's really ninjutsu, where he's searching for a higher plane from where to attack in a downward trajectory where possible, because those do more damage (combined with force and mass). If you dig down into ninjutsu, the attacks are based on 'smarter, not harder' philosophy, and there're maths and angles and the laws of physics involved. I'm really curious how Matt sees these types of things in his head in the middle of a fight, or maybe he just doesn't actively think about it anymore.
If you look at Matt fighting Nobu, you'll see Nobu is fighting in the same style, Nobu is also doing Matt's high kicks and flips but obvs has better training. On the plus side, Nobu is supposed to be very high up in The Hand organization of assassins, so Matt's very odd combination of Eastern/Western style kind of balances the weaknesses of the other forms, if that makes sense? I think in some sense you're correct that Matt would HAVE to fight this way (more Eastern-based) to be so successful because he's just not that big of a guy. He's muscular, but full grown at 5'10" and ~165 he just... doesn't have enough weight or mass to go against bigger, stronger opponents, so has to use more strategy and trajectory-based offenses (like a child would, yes). :)
Re: Matt's fighting style
I know fandom calls Matt a tiny ninja, but the moves Matt used really are Eastern forms, it's really ninjutsu, where he's searching for a higher plane from where to attack in a downward trajectory where possible, because those do more damage (combined with force and mass). If you dig down into ninjutsu, the attacks are based on 'smarter, not harder' philosophy, and there're maths and angles and the laws of physics involved. I'm really curious how Matt sees these types of things in his head in the middle of a fight, or maybe he just doesn't actively think about it anymore.
If you look at Matt fighting Nobu, you'll see Nobu is fighting in the same style, Nobu is also doing Matt's high kicks and flips but obvs has better training. On the plus side, Nobu is supposed to be very high up in The Hand organization of assassins, so Matt's very odd combination of Eastern/Western style kind of balances the weaknesses of the other forms, if that makes sense? I think in some sense you're correct that Matt would HAVE to fight this way (more Eastern-based) to be so successful because he's just not that big of a guy. He's muscular, but full grown at 5'10" and ~165 he just... doesn't have enough weight or mass to go against bigger, stronger opponents, so has to use more strategy and trajectory-based offenses (like a child would, yes). :)