Kings MMA is not a cute place to get a good workout or supplement cardio, it is a serious place where you will learn how to fight from champions. Don’t get me wrong, in the process you will get a good workout and get in the best cardio conditioning of your life. More interestingly you will learn to fight, you will learn discipline and respect. I haven’t been in a gym like this since I studied Muay Thai with Fairtex back in San Francisco many years ago, and it felt good. There is something to getting involved in a discipline like fighting that takes you to another level within yourself.
I took my classes at the West Hollywood location at 7624 Santa Monica Blvd. a few blocks east of Fairfax. This is their newest L.A. area location, following up the success of the Huntington Beach location, which was opened back in 2010 by Master Rafael Cordeiro. Cordeiro started his career as a fighter with legendary Chute Boxe in Brazil, fighting professionally. He also became Brazil’s Muay Thai champion and won the International Vale Tudo Championship (a Brazilian MMA tournament) as a lightweight before becoming a Master and leaving professional fighting to train fighters. He has trained countless fighters including 13 world champions and was named “coach of the year” in 2012 and 2015 by “Fighters Only” magazine. Fighters fly in from all over the world to train here in L.A. with him. What I’m saying is, we are lucky to have this new location in West Hollywood where we can train with the best.
Enough history. What’s actually going down here? I am going to talk about the classes in West Hollywood. There are currently three types of classes Muay Thai, Ju Jitsu, and MMA and also Ju Jitsu for kids). If you are in the Huntington Beach are check the website https://kingsmma.com/huntington-beach/ because they have a larger list of classes. As it was explained to me Muay Thai and Ju Jitsu are stand alone classes, meaning they don’t have prerequisites — all levels are welcome, and you learn together. MMA uses skills learned in both Muy Thai and Ju Jitsu (as well as all other martial arts).
Muay Thai
This was my favorite of the two classes i took, but I am partial to it as I studied Muay Thai for three years. Muay Thai comes from Thailand and is a fighting style using fists, shins, elbows and knees. The class was run very well with a great warm up and great combos with some outlined punches and kicks and a little room for surprise. The trainer was constantly moving around the room with his eye on everyone correcting form and technique.
Ju Jitsu
Ju Jitsu originated in Japan as a close form of combat training using pins, joint locks and throws to use your opponent’s energy against him rather than directly opposing him. It was considered the best option when coming up against an opponent who was armed because striking him would prove futile. Today it can be an effective way to win against someone who is greater in size and or strength by leveraging his bodyweight against him.
(Side note: if you are looking at Kings MMA’s Ju Jitsu classes on line you will see they have GI or NO GI classes. GI is the traditional outfit one wears to fight in, so choose the NO GI option to try it out. If you choose to stick with the sport, then you may want to purchase your own GI so you can fight both styles.
MMA
Kings MMA has MMA classes for all levels. MMA actually uses the punching, kicking and blocking skills learned in Muy Thai combined with the grappling, wrestling and take down skills learned in Ju Jitsu. So you can take the “all levels” MMA class, although I would like to get more skilled in Ju Jitsu and then take both skills into MMA.
The Bottom Line
I love this place and plan to start training here next year when my schedule shifts to allow me the time. You can go online and sign up to try three classes in WeHo for free or one free class in the Huntington Beach location. Kings MMA has membership packages available month to month or discounted on a monthly renewal program. Check it out!
