There May be One Top Team, but Many Gyms Provide Good Options for MMA Fighters

The UFC is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, but several significant changes have occurred regarding the best places to train for up-and-coming fighters. In the early days of UFC, before the sport became more heavily regulated, there weren’t too many MMA gyms for fighters to train where they could get experience in different disciplines to help them win.

But as the sport has evolved, fighters who want to become champions need diversified training to reach the top of the mountain. While fighters need to find a place that will push them to be the best, it is also crucial for them to find a place where they fit the culture and work best for their family. 

Here’s a look at some of the top MMA gyms. Most have produced current or former champions while building a long track record of success.

American Top Team Builds Solid Reputation in Florida

Dan Lambert founded American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., a town north of Miami, in 2001. American Top Team has three current champions among the major MMA promotions. Johnny Eblen is the Bellator middleweight champion, Yaroslav Amosov is the Bellator welterweight champion, and Alexandre Pantoja is the UFC’s flyweight champion.

Kayla Harrison, Junior dos Santos, Tyron Woodley, Mike Brown, and many others have trained with ATT and won championships professionally. The original MMA gym in Florida also has 40 worldwide affiliations that help spread the brand and get fighters involved. American Top Team was named the Gym of the Year at the World MMA Awards from 2016 to 2020.

City Kickboxing Gives International Fighters a Mecca

Much of the MMA world can be centered around the United States because many top fights are held, and the best fighters are training. City Kickboxing in Auckland, New Zealand, has shown that other places can figure out how to produce top talent. Eugene Bareman and Doug Viney formed their partnership in 2007.

Alexander Volkanovski is UFC featherweight champion and is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. City Kickboxing has been in the title picture for a long time. Adesanya trains there, while top-ranked fighters Kai Kara-France and Dan Hooker are also involved with them. On the boxing side, City Kickboxing has also worked with some fighters who became champions.

Jackson Wink is One of the Originals

Jackson Wink MMA Academy worked with many of the top fighters in the world for a long time after opening in 1992. While current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones no longer trains there, Jackson Wink helped him climb the MMA ladder. Jackson Wink still works with many top fighters and has a unique setup in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Holly Holm, Tony Ferguson, Frank Mir, Georges St-Pierre, and Donald Cerrone came through Jackson Wink. Where the gym will go in the future is still in flux. When Jones left, the gym lost a little of its luster, but it still provides an opportunity for fighters looking to work with experienced coaching.

California Kid Keeps MMA Legacy Alive

Urijah Faber is one fighter who made his star outside of the UFC. While now retired, Faber was a WEC featherweight champion and challenged for the UFC title several times. While he never won the UFC title, he cemented his place in the sport by founding Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, Calif.

Team Alpha Male has produced three champions: T.J. Dillashaw, Cody Garbrandt, and Deiveson Figueiredo. Faber’s long experience fighting in MMA helped him build a strong reputation and draw other top talents to Sacramento. 

Xtreme Couture Builds from Legends Foundation

Randy Couture has been involved with mixed martial arts from the early days. He founded Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas in 2006, toward the end of Couture’s legendary run with the UFC. Couture was a two-division UFC champion and is still a color commentator for PFL’s MMA broadcasts.

Couture is also involved with acting in Hollywood. But when it comes to his gym, it is over 24,000 square feet and is one of the largest gyms in the world. Sean Strickland gave the gym another champion when he captured the UFC middleweight championship last Saturday. Current Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader also trains at the gym.

American Kickboxing Academy Not for Weak-Spirited

The American Kickboxing Academy was founded by Javier Mendez in 1985. The gym is based in San Jose, Calif., and has drawn some criticism over the years for an intense training regiment that leads to their fighters being more injury-prone than other top academies. What no one can deny AKA is the results it has.

Current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov train at AKA. Several prominent former champions also competed at the gym. Two-division champion and UFC broadcaster Daniel Cormier trained at the gym, while one of the fighters in the conversation for greatest of all time, Khabib Nurmagomedov, also trained there. AKA has also tried to stretch its brand out on a global stage. AKA opened a location in Phuket, Thailand.

Kings MMA Ruled the World in 2015

Rafael Cordeiro founded the Kings MMA in 2013 and quickly developed a reputation as one of the best places to train for MMA. The school is located in Huntington Beach, Calif. Kings MMA has worked with many former champions but had its best year on the world stage in 2015.

In 2015, Fabricio Werdum and Rafael dos Anjos captured the UFC heavyweight and lightweight championships, respectively. Kings MMA also worked with Cris Cyborg, who is a legend of women’s MMA and is the current Bellator featherweight champion. Cyborg also won a title in the UFC and was the champion of Elite XC before it folded.

Kings MMA is also working with several former UFC title challengers. Both Marvin Vettori and Kelvin Gastelum have fought for UFC titles in different weight classes.