Top 10 Best MMA Gyms in 2019 for MMA training

#5 Team Elevation

Former opponents Curtis Blaydes and Alistair Overeem now train together at Team Elevation

There’s an infamous old adage that states “those who can’t, teach”, and while it’d be unfair to say that the adage fits Denver, Colorado’s Team Elevation, it’s not untrue to suggest that the team’s fighters have gone onto far more success in the UFC than coaches Eliot Marshall and Cody Donovan did. While Marshall and Donovan struggled in the Octagon – going 4-6 between them – they’ve coached some outstanding fighters to tremendous success.

Initially considered an offshoot of Jackson-Wink MMA thanks to the involvement of striking coach Trevor Wittman, Team Elevation has grown in reputation over the past few years and now top UFC fighters like Curtis Blaydes, Alistair Overeem, Cory Sandhagen, Cat Zingano and Neil Magny all call the gym home.

And while the team can’t boast a current UFC champion, former Bantamweight kingpin TJ Dillashaw was previously training out of the camp while Donald Cerrone – who has more wins than any other fighter in UFC history – has also trained with Marshall and Donovan too.

#6 Kings MMA

Coach Rafael Cordeiro helped turn Fabricio Werdum into a deadly striker - and a UFC champion

A decade or so ago, Brazil was home to some of the most powerful camps in MMA. Teams like Chute Boxe, Brazilian Top Team, Team Nogueira and Nova Uniao could all have claimed to be the very best in the sport, and the rivalry between Chute Boxe and BTT was one of the most notorious in the sport. But since the US MMA boom that began with the advent of The Ultimate Fighter, more and more of Brazil’s finest have moved to US-based camps.

But while teams like Chute Boxe have suffered, Brazilian fighters have continued to thrive, and today one of the world’s best MMA gyms remains dominated by a Brazilian flavour despite being based in Huntington Beach, California. Kings’ MMA – coached by former Chute Boxe trainer Rafael Cordeiro – has risen in prominence in recent years and now acts as home to some great fighters.

When both Fabricio Werdum and Rafael Dos Anjos won UFC gold in 2015 at Heavyweight and Lightweight respectively, it was the striking coaching of Cordeiro that was largely given credit for the rise of the two men, who were once considered pure grapplers. And with fighters like Kelvin Gastelum, Beneil Dariush and Marvin Vettori fighting out of the gym, it’s clear that Kings’ MMA is here to stay.