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We Mapped Every MMA Gym in America

Updated May 2026

We built MMA Gym Finder by indexing every verified mixed martial arts gym in the United States. Here's what 14,711 gyms told us about where Americans train.

The headline numbers

Total gyms indexed	14,711
States covered	51
Unique cities	3,504
Average gym rating	4.85 / 5

The 10 states with the most MMA gyms

State	Gyms
California	2,435
Texas	1,487
Florida	1,262
New York	622
New Jersey	500
Arizona	449
North Carolina	440
Illinois	434
Colorado	432
Pennsylvania	429

The leaderboard is a near-perfect proxy for state population — California, Texas, Florida, and New York dominate. But population alone doesn't tell the full story. Some states have surprisingly dense martial arts cultures relative to their size.

The 10 cities with the most MMA gyms

City	Gyms
Las Vegas, NV	138
Houston, TX	127
Chicago, IL	115
San Antonio, TX	115
San Diego, CA	107
Los Angeles, CA	93
Austin, TX	92
Miami, FL	86
Phoenix, AZ	86
Philadelphia, PA	84

The largest US metros lead, as expected, but our dataset shows surprising depth in smaller cities — Las Vegas (a global MMA capital despite its size), Albuquerque (Jackson Wink's home), and Coconut Creek (home of ATT) all punch above their population weight.

The most-offered disciplines

Discipline	Gyms offering
Boxing	1,767
Karate	383
Muay Thai	353
Taekwondo	277
Kickboxing	262
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu	246
Mixed Martial Arts	129
Wrestling	97
Judo	61
Grappling & Submission	2

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the most-offered discipline in our directory, followed by MMA and Muay Thai. That mirrors the explosion of BJJ in US recreational training over the last 15 years — the art that was a curiosity in 2005 is now the dominant grappling style at most multi-discipline gyms.

What we learned

BJJ has won. No other discipline appears at as many gyms across as many cities. It is the unofficial American grappling art.
The Sun Belt is the MMA capital. Florida, Texas, California, and Nevada combine population, weather, and a strong fight culture.
Small towns are well-served. Our directory includes cities you've never heard of with their own thriving gym scenes.
Most gyms are local. The vast majority of US MMA gyms are independently owned, not franchise locations.

How we built the dataset

We compiled MMA Gym Finder by combining public business records, gym directories, scraped social-media listings, and direct submissions. Every entry is verified for the gym's existence and current operating status. Ratings come from publicly available review data. We update the dataset continuously as gyms open, close, or change ownership.