What exactly is an MMA “camp?” Are there tents? Do the campers chug synthetic testosterone and play tetherball? Can you send your overweight teen to MMA Camp and expect them to come home a couple of weight classes lighter?
Unfortunately, no.
A camp is actually just a collection of fighters who train together in a central location, providing sparring partners for each other, and sometimes earning extra cash to associate their name with the organization or train random noobs. And since there aren’t actually tag teams in MMA (not yet!), we call them “camps” instead of “teams.” So which ones have the best fighters in 2012?
Grab your poncho, and let’s find out.
Honorable Mention: Xtreme Couture
Las Vegas/Toronto/Wellington, FL
Notable Fighters:
– Alistair Overeem (former Strikeforce, K-1, DREAM Champion; current #1 UFC heavyweight contender)
– Michael Chandler (current Bellator Lightweight Champion)
– Vitor Belfort (former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
– Ryan Bader
– Forrest Griffin (former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
– Mike Pyle (former WEC Welterweight Champion)
– Amir Sadollah (winner of The Ultimate Fighter 7)
Honorable Mention: Alliance MMA
Chula Vista, CA
Notable Fighters:
– Dominick Cruz (current UFC Bantamweight Champion)
– Phil Davis
– Alexander Gustafsson
– Travis Browne
– Ross Pearson (winner of The Ultimate Fighter 9)
– Brandon Vera
#5: Team Quest
Various locations in Oregon, California, and Thailand
Possibly named after classic high school wrestling film Vision Quest, this camp was co-founded by a trio of 40-somethings that could still kill most mammals in under 30 seconds: Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, and Matt Lindland.
Couture has since moved on to establish his own series of gyms with Xtreme Couture and Legends Gym, but Quest remains strong. They have one of the best collections of wrestlers in MMA, highlighted by the annoyingly effective Chael Sonnen.
Notable Fighters:
– Dan Henderson (former Pride, Strikeforce Champion, winner of UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament)
– Chael Sonnen (current #1 UFC middleweight contender, money launderer, performance enhancer, possible xenophobe, comedian, politician)
– Yushin Okami (top Japanese fighter in UFC)
– Jason Miller (kid-puncher)
– “The Polish Experiment” Krzysztof Soszynski
– Mike “Battle Troll” Pierce
#4: American Kickboxing Academy
San Jose, CA
Despite having the word “kickboxing” in their title, AKA is another very strong collection of wrestlers. Of special note is my favorite undefeated, overachieving meatball, Daniel Cormier – 4th place finisher at the 2004 Olympics and captain of the 2008 US team. Also noteworthy: Gray Maynard was a 3-time college All-American, Muhammed Lawal was a Division II Champion, and Cain Velasquez was a junior college National Champion.
They also have perhaps the deepest and most colorful collection of fighters in MMA.
Notable Fighters:
– Cain Velaszquez (former UFC Heavyweight Champion)
– Luke Rockhold (current Strikeforce Middleweight Champion)
– Jon Fitch
– Gray Maynard
– Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal (former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion)
– Mike Swick
– Josh Thomspon (former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion)
– Cung Le (former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, Tekken’s Marshall Law)
– Phil “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni (beach poser, punching bag)
– Herschel Walker (push-up phenomenon, 50 years old)
#3: Caesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu
Bay Area, CA
The Gracies are the first family of MMA, doing more to invent and develop MMA than anyone – so it’s great to see them still relevant in the sport, even if they aren’t personally winning many big time fights these days. Highlighted by the unsavory, trouble-making Diaz brothers, Gracie doesn’t have the deepest collection of fighters, but their top 4 can hang with anybody
Notable Fighters :
– Gilbert Melendez (current Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, former WEC Lightweight Champion)
– Nick Diaz (former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, former WEC Welterweight Champion)
– Nate Diaz (winner The Ultimate Fighter 5, won “Fight of the Night” or “Submission of the Night” bonus in 8 of last 12 UFC fights)
– Jake Shields (former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion)
#2: Black House
Brazil, Southern California
An unrivaled collection of terrifying Brazilian dudes, Black House could easily be #1 on this list. And without the unrest the brand has experienced in previous years, they probably would be. Just start naming the best Brazilian fighters and you basically have the Black House roster.
Notable Fighters :
– Anderson Silva (current UFC Middleweight Champion, sweet dancer)
– Jose Aldo (current UFC Featherweight Champion, former WEC Featherweight Champion, leg-kicker)
– Lyoto Machida (former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
– Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion, former Pride Heavyweight Champion, got run over by a truck)
– Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
– Rafael Cavalcante (former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion)
– Ronaldo Souza (former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion)
– Diego Nunes
– Roger Gracie (winner of 1 billion BJJ championships)
– Antonio Silva (huge face)
#1: Jackson’s Submission Fighting
Albuquerque, NM
If the Gracie clan invented MMA, Greg Jackson has done as much as anybody to evolve and adapt the sport for the modern, unified rules. He invented his own martial art, “Gaidojitsu,” which sounds like something Napoleon Dynamite might do. It looks suspiciously close to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with some tweaks for modern MMA – but it’s obviously working, so give him credit.
Jackson also has a reputation for coaching fighters into boring game plans – largely based on Georges St. Pierre’s conservative title defenses. Since winning the belt in 2006, GSP has often fought not to lose – winning 6 of his last 9 by decision. The rebuttal to that argument is Jon Jones, who is anything but boring, winning his last 6 fights by TKO or submission – and winning KO, Submission, or Fight of the Night in 4 of those bouts.
Also worth noting is that Jackson’s camp operates at an elevation of 5,300 ft. That’s at least twice as high as any other camp on this list. The benefits of training at altitude are well documented, so it will be interesting to see if any elite MMA camps open up year-round facilities in other high altitude cities like Denver or Santa Fe.
Notable Fighters:
– Georges St. Pierre (current UFC Welterweight Champion)
– Jon Jones (current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion)
– Carlos Condit (current Interim UFC Welterweight Champion)
– Donald Cerrone (former WEC Lightweight Champion)
– Clay Guida (former Strikeforce Lighweight Champion)
– Shane Carwin (former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion)
– Nate Marquardt (3-time Pancrase Middleweight Champion)
– Brian Stann (former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion)
– Diego Sanchez (winner of The Ultimate Fighter 1, positive thinker)
– Yoshihiro Akiyami (sexiest man alive)
So who got snubbed? American Top Team? Wolfslair? Can you even understand what those British guys are saying? Let’s argue about it in the comments.
