Dive into the vibrant MMA scene of Los Angeles, California, where every gym promises a unique blend of discipline, strength, and technique.
Whether you’re aiming to hone your skills in MMA, boxing, or Muay Thai, LA’s top gyms offer a diverse array of training options tailored to fit your goals and mesh seamlessly with the city’s notorious travel times.
Embark on your journey to discover the perfect MMA gym in LA, a city renowned for its dynamic combat sports community.
This guide highlights the 10 best spots where passion for mixed martial arts comes alive, ensuring you find a gym that resonates with your aspirations and lifestyle amidst the bustling streets of Los Angeles.
Table of Contents
Dynamix MMA
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Mixed Martial Arts
- Location: 11870 Santa Monica Blvd #102b, Los Angeles, CA 90025
- Notable Coaches: Antoni Hardonk
- Notable Fighters: Jordan Wright
Dynamix MMA prides itself on being one of the best mixed martial arts gyms in Los Angeles. They successfully bring together world-class instructors to teach students here.
Dynamix has a mission to create an environment that helps people develop their skills as well as their fighting prowess. They take in students from all walks of life and levels of experience, create a friendly learning atmosphere, and create confident martial artists.
Dynamix MMA was founded in 2010 by Antoni Hardonk and Henry Akins. Both studied martial arts for most of their lives and decided to start a school to be able to pass on the knowledge from their martial arts careers.
This gym aims to help people people from all walks of life to reach their physical fitness and martial arts goals. Whether it’s beginners wanting to learn fundamentals of self-defense, or fighters looking to go pro or take their career to the next level of competition.
Dynamix offers personal training for the truly committed. The classes themselves range from kickboxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, strength training, and MMA-specific grappling tuition.
This is an excellent all-round gym for the truly inspired and committed martial artist.
Downtown Fighting Club
Our Rating: ★★★★ 4/5
- Gym Type: Mixed Martial Arts
- Location: 1320 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015, United States
- Head Coach: Carlo Sanz
Downtown Fighting Club offers a small group training setting where students can learn a variety of martial arts. Including Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, and general self-defense methods.
Their teaching methods center around a curriculum of “positive mental attitude” and “high goal setting”. It seems true that they want to help each individual achieve more than they ever thought possible.
Downtown Fighting Club goes beyond teaching mixed martial arts, as all instructors are committed to a student’s complete personal development.
Individual attention is a feature of each class, allowing all students to progress quickly and confidently toward their personal goals.
The instructors take responsibility as role models for younger students, teaching them the importance of strong character, leadership, and good values.
This is a good MMA gym to choose if you are looking for that personal setting between you, a small group of people, and your instructor. They aren’t shy about mixing up the workouts into the outdoors or at other locations, giving it a boot camp-like training style.
Fight Science MMA
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Mixed Martial Arts
- Location: 4713 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016, United States
- Notable Coaches: Ian Harris, Julian Rush, Leo Hirai
- Notable Fighters: Erick Gonzalez, Chris Padilla, Mike Koezler
Fight Science MMA began in 2003. Its founder, Ian Harris, began teaching his unique hybrid of Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Jeet Kune Do, Kenpo, Wing Chun, and many other martial arts originally as a self-defense class in Culver City.
Ian has always taken the nerdy scientific approach to teaching fighting and believes it more to be a science than an art form, thus breeding the name “Fight Science”.
The head coaches, Ian and Julian, have continued to refine their coaching methods for over 15 years.
In that time, they have had fighters in every significant and local Californian fighting organization. They have successfully created champions for pro and amateur shows like RFA, CXF, Tachi Palace, BAMMA, U of MMA, Spar Star, TFA, and many more.
This gym has even successfully brought fighters to the UFC level of competition, namely Erick Gonzalez (AKA “The Ghost Pepper”):
Along with Leo Hirai, they opened the first Fight Science gym in Mid City, L.A., in 2017.
This gym is a great place to learn a scientific approach to fighting. They have produced many great athletes at high-level competition, and you could just be their next star.
For best performance, they use a scientific approach to the science of fighting. They see the most effective techniques and tactics for MMA competitions and self-defense, and they aren’t beholden to traditional methods.
All students are encouraged to compete – but no one is required. The true essence of martial arts is challenging oneself, which will help build their courage, spirit, and fortitude.
This is a great gym to learn with if you are particularly interested in the shooting and grappling style of mixed martial arts performing (which is a good idea since wrestlers and Jitsu practitioners are highly effective in MMA).
Rise Athletics LA
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Boxing
- Location: #BSMT, 714 S Hill St, Los Angeles, CA 90014, United States
- Notable Coaches: Alberto Ros, Taylor Ros
- Notable Fighters: Ozzy Diaz
Rise Athletics LA is primarily a Boxing gym with various classes around strength and conditioning, including HIIT and CrossFit.
They also have classes for Jiujitsu and Kickboxing which makes this gym still a decent option for an aspiring mixed martial artist. Their classes are all designed to provide the foundations for a healthy body by giving students the knowledge they need about their bodies and movement.
This gym offers unique HIIT classes that mix strength and interval training. Each workout includes cardio and a strength-building focus, with strength exercises designed to increase your force and power.
They have CrossFit classes in-house, which is a good way of learning movements and techniques such as the clean and jerk, snatch, deadlifts, etc. The coaches can break down the exercises to help you improve technical proficiency.
Rise Athletics LA has a range of equipment to support fighters or lifters build their strength. The kit in-house includes squat racks, free weights, heavy bags, and treadmills for the runners.
The Boxing classes at Rise Athletics LA will teach the fundamental mechanics of punching, blocking, slipping, rolling, and footwork. They use ladder drills to help you develop coordination and speed with your feet.
This gym also offers Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes. Putting all these together can develop your ability to apply the skills you learn to mixed martial arts.
This would be an excellent gym to choose if you are looking to predominantly focusing on Boxing proficiency and fitness development through their CrossFit programming.
Renzo Gracie Los Angeles
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Muay Thai
- Location: 5121 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027, United States
- Notable Coaches: Jaime Mendez, Kru Algernon Lanier
Renzo Gracie Los Angeles is a gym for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the Renzo Gracie system. But they do also offer various classes for Muay Thai, fitness, and even Yoga.
Renzo Gracie LA prioritizes helping each individual and their family become better versions of themselves. They consider themselves as a family, not just a gym. And everything they do centers around this principle, supporting every member through their challenges and triumphs.
Having regular contact with the coaches and creating a very positive atmosphere help create an environment where every member feels welcomed and at home.
They have several expert instructors, particularly in BJJ and Muay Thai. They will help by learning your goals and supporting you to achieve them.
This is a great gym if you want to learn self-defense, improve your confidence, and get in great shape. A real community and family vibe here makes it suitable for parents and kids.
UPRISE MMA
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Mixed Martial Arts
- Location: 12320 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066, United States
- Notable Coaches: Pete Panos, Gustavo Gasperin
- Notable Fighters: Herve Mavungu
UPRISE MMA opened its doors in 2008 to provide high-quality mixed martial arts instruction. They are proud to offer direct hands-on training from their top coaches.
The owner and head coach, Pete Panos, began a lifelong journey into mixed martial arts and eventually opened his gym.
Pete has competed nationally and internationally in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions. He studied American Boxing under Mick Waran, Long Fist under Sifu Orhun Kirimetci, Muay Thai under Kru Nokweed, and Jiu-Jitsu instruction under Gustavo Gasperin.
Something particularly great about this gym is that it has a cage, which is rare to find:
The class schedule here offers a wide range of different martial arts and many time slots to choose from on most days of the week.
UPRISE MMA offers Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Gi and No-Gi), Muay Thai, Boxing, and MMA-specific classes for adults and kids.
Their classes are suitable for anyone, regardless of age, experience, or gender. They will help you achieve your goals by learning practical self-defense and getting in incredible physical shape simultaneously.
The Yard Muay Thai
Our Rating: ★★★★ 4/5
- Gym Type: Muay Thai
- Location: 241 W Ave 26, Los Angeles, CA 90031, United States
- Notable Coaches: Mark Komuro, Joe Schilling, Yoshi Hisataka
- Notable Fighters: Joe Schilling, Daniel Rodriguez
The Yard Muay Thai is simply one of the best Muay Thai specialist gyms in the LA area. Many big names from the world of UFC and Bellator have either stepped through their doors to train, or represent them entirely in fight promotions.
The likes of Nate Diaz, Daniel Rodriguez, and Guilherme Bomba have all trained here under the tuition of Mark Komuro.
This kind of gym is where big egos are checked at the door. Everyone here is dedicated to hard work and respect.
The training team consists of their training staff and champion-level competitive fighters to guide you with pad work and pointers in each session.
The class schedule includes Muay Thai and an open gym for the rest of the day if you want to get into your own training sessions or find time with an expert Thai coach.
This is a great location to learn advanced skills of Muay Thai technique. If it’s good enough for UFC-level fighters, it’s sure to be suitable for anyone looking to learn.
Reilly Muay Thai
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Muay Thai
- Location: 1551 N La Brea Ave Top floor, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
- Notable Coaches: Chris Reilly
- Notable Fighters: Alan Jouban
Reilly Muay Thai is a Muay Thai specialist gym that doesn’t place value in brute strength or aggression but in the “art” in Mixed Martial Arts.
They see the evolution of becoming a martial artist as training the mind to focus and the body to be ready for battle. Great value is placed on the mental journey as it is not just a physical one.
Muay Thai classes are taught in a friendly environment that rewards smarts and sportsmanship over brutality. They pay close attention to ensuring every student has a positive learning experience.
Reilly Muay Thai classes and programs cover detailed training in a striking style that will allow you to compete in full rules Muay Thai, K-1, Boxing, or MMA.
Chris Reilly himself has trained and cornered many fighters since the early 2000s, accumulating many wins and trophies for his fighters. He’s even trained the original “BMF”, Nate Diaz:
At this gym, you’ll be able to learn the powerful skills and conditioning of a Muay Thai warrior and be ready to go to war in the ring or defend yourself in your personal life.
This gym particularly takes pride in its unique teaching system and philosophy, making the knowledge accessible for anyone to learn the art.
10th Planet Jiu Jitsu
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
- Location: 1080 S La Cienega Blvd #106, Los Angeles, CA 90035, United States
- Notable Coaches: Scott Epstein, Johnny Ho
- Notable Fighters: Eddie Jackson
10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu in West LA is the headquarters that was originally started by Eddie Bravo, who has developed his own unique No-Gi BJJ system to apply to mixed martial arts. This is just one location for the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, as there are dozens more locations globally.
Names across the MMA world have visited this gym as well as other 10th Planet locations, including the likes of Joe Rogan, and Chuck Liddell.
Most BJJ schools typically require you to wear a Gi, as with the traditions of Jiu-Jitsu. But it doesn’t simulate most real self-defense situations or even mixed martial arts.
Instead, the 10th Planet system focuses entirely on No-Gi BJJ, wearing a rashguard instead of a Gi. This is the best simulation for real-life situations or in the cage.
They firmly believe that their system is the best for practical BJJ use and claim that many film stars, UFC fighters, and other athletes have been visiting their gym to learn these techniques worldwide.
The only way to find out is by trying out their classes. While they mainly focus on BJJ, there is also Muay Thai taught here if you want to learn striking elements. There are also classes for kids.
Fortune Gym
Our Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5
- Gym Type: Boxing
- Location: 7801 Melrose Ave #3, Los Angeles, CA 90046, United States
- Notable Coaches: Justin Fortune
- Notable Fighters: Julio Caesar Chavez Jr., Cheik Kongo, Fabricio Werdum, Manny Pacquiao
Fortune Gym is a Boxing focused gym from the former Heavyweight contender, Justin Fortune.
This is a classic-style Boxing gym in the Heart of Hollywood. Fortune Gym is a place for pro fighters and those who want to become one.
A highly qualified team at this gym can teach more than just Boxing, including Gracie Baha Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and Mixed Martial Arts.
Justin Fortune had a professional fighting career for over 20 years, totaling 29 fights, including a World Championship bout against Lennox Lewis in 1995, his most extraordinary claim to fame.
His experience puts him high in demand, and many fighters have flocked to his gym to learn. Fortune has trained many fighters, including Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquaio, and Israel Vasquez.
Suppose you’re looking for a small setting that mainly focuses on Boxing methodology from some of the very best in the business. In that case, this is where you’ll want to go. You can also learn other techniques to apply to a mixed martial arts style.