Best MMA Gyms

Finding an MMA gym to train at is the most important factor for a career in Mixed Martial Arts.

Even if you don’t want to compete, it’s still important which MMA Gym you go to. Although the best gyms only have one location, you can find the closest one to you that’s on our list.

Here’s a list of the Top Gyms for Mixed Martial Arts in no particular order:


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​​Jackson Wink MMA (Albuquerque,  NM)
City Kickboxing (Auckland, New Zealand)
Tristar Gym (Montreal, QC)
AKA American Kickboxing Academy (San Jose, CA)

​​Jackson Wink MMA (Albuquerque,  NM)

Jackson Wink


Notable Fighters

  • Jon Jones (UFC Light Heavyweight Champion / GOAT)
  • Holly Holm (Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion)
  • Carlos Condit
  • Aaron Pico
  • John Dodson
  • Michelle Waterson

Coaches

  • Greg Jackson
  • Mike Winkeljohn
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City Kickboxing (Auckland, New Zealand)


Notable Fighters

City Kickboxing
  • Israel Adesanya (UFC Middleweight Champion
  • Alexander Volkanovski (UFC Featherweight Champion)
  • Dan Hooker (#5 Ranked in UFC Lightweight)
  • Kai Kara-France (#7 Ranked in UFC Flyweight Division)

Coaches

  • Eugene Bareman
  • Doug Viney
  • Chanel Niumata
  • Tristram Apikitoa
  • Mike Angove
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American Top Team

Coconut Creek, FL


Notable Fighters

  • Amanda Nunes (UFC Women’s Featherweight & Bantamweight Champion)
  • Jorge Masvidal (BMF & #3 Ranked UFC Welterweight)
  • Douglas Lima (Bellator Welterweight Champion)
  • Joanna Jedrzejczyk (Former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion)
  • Thiago Santos (#2 UFC Light Heavyweight)
  • Colby Covington (#2 UFC Welterweight)
  • Tyron Woodley (Former UFC Welterweight Champion)
  • Marlon Moraes (#1 Ranked UFC Bantamweight)
  • Dustin Pourier (#2 Ranked UFC Lightweight)
  • Yoel Romero (#4 Ranked UFC Middleweight)

Coaches

  • Mike Brown
  • Conan Silveira
  • Din Thomas
  • King Mo
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Tristar MMA

Tristar Gym (Montreal, QC)


Notable Fighters

  • Georges St-Pierre (Former UFC Welterweight & Middleweight Champion)
  • Kevin Lee
  • Johnny Walker

Coaches

  • Firas Zahabi
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AKA American Kickboxing Academy (San Jose, CA)

American Kickboxing Academy


Notable Fighters

  • Daniel Cormier (Former UFC Heavyweight & Light Heavyweight Champion)
  • Khabib Nurmagomedov  (UFC Lightweight Champion)
  • Josh Thompson (Former Strikeforce Champion)
  • Cain Velasquez (Former UFC Heavyweight Champion)

Coaches

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What Makes these Gyms the Best?

#1 The Coaches

#2 The Fighters

It’s arguable. Does the coach make the fighter, or does the fighter make the coach?

It’s a little bit of both. Every great MMA fighter had a great coach and a great corner with them.

Do They Offer Regular Classes for Non Professional Fighters?

Yes! All of these gyms listed offer normal mixed martial arts training classes for people who do not fight professionally. The classes you can take range from mixed martial arts, to boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, wrestling, and brazilian jiu-jitsu.

You can’t go wrong if you go to any one of these gyms. I recommend going to the gym closest to you if you’re a non professional fighter.

If you are a professional fighter, then you really can’t go wrong with any of these either.

Final Thoughts

Mixed Martial Arts is one of the hottest sports right now and it is going to keep growing like crazy. It’s still a baby relative to where we think it’s going to be in five to ten years.

Thanks to the UFC and ESPN, MMA is being promoted a lot and regular sports fans are starting to get into it.

Everyone wants to be able to defend themselves. So, MMA gyms are going to keep growing in demand. Martial Arts like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a must-know for self defense and it’s one of the best forms of martial arts you can use in a real life situation.

Kickboxing and Boxing are gaining in popularity as well as a way for people to get and stay in shape. It’s one of the best cardio workouts one can do.

So get out there and go train! 

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Ryan Joseph

About the author 

MMA Throne


We are a team of brothers that fell in love with MMA around the time Strikeforce and the UFC merged. We spent a lot of time playing UFC Undisputed in between fight cards but we have done our research on the best MMA gear and we hope you find our information useful.