By Javier Delgado/Cronkite News:
TEMPE – As the popularity of combat fighting continues to grow, the Phoenix area has earned the reputation of mixed martial arts hotbed.
With many high-level gyms and facilities, a university that produces top wrestling talent and a community that embraces MMA, Arizona has become a destination for fighters.
“Oh, its evolved big time, dude,” said Valley resident Henry Cejudo, one of the most decorated athletes in combat sports history, who announced his retirement Saturday. “The sport of mixed martial arts has gone mainstream. I can’t go outside or anywhere to any part of the country, and I travel a lot all across the world.”
Media executive Mark Shapiro, the president and COO of Endeavor sports and entertainment company, said at a conference in 2024 that MMA has replaced hockey as one of the “big four” sports based as viewership.
Why do so many of its competitors call Arizona home? Some of those fighters started as athletes as Arizona State, a university whose wrestling program has become a feeder system for MMA. Think legends such as Dan Severn and Don Frye, two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, UFC Hall of Famer Ryan Bader and other standouts include Aaron Simpson, C.B. Dollaway and John Moraga.
Arizona Combat Sports in Tempe is one of the gyms that has produced professional and amateur fighters.
Founded in 1999, it offers classes and training in MMA, submission wrestling, Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu jitsu. Its mission is simple: “Build better athletes. Build better people.”
At Arizona Combat Sports, Muay Thai coach and professional fighter Cedric Katambwa has echoed the gym’s mission through his coaching. Katambwa (4-1 pro record) coached for five years and has trained at Arizona Combat Sports for 15.
“As a coach, my job is to make sure I get people ready for fights,” Katambwa said. “And those people that aren’t necessarily looking for fights, you know, teach them the art and help them have a good time doing it.”
Katambwa has competed in MMA since 2017 and made his professional debut in 2021. Throughout his time in Arizona, he’s watched the landscape of combat sports change over the years.
“There’s a lot more opportunities now than there was whenever I started,” he said. “Seems like you could almost fight every month if you wanted to now. I believe the level of competition is better. … Some of the gyms that were not as good, are good now.”
The MMA community in the desert extends beyond Tempe. Multiple other gyms that feature high level fighters and coaches include The MMA Lab in Phoenix, Fight Ready MMA in Scottsdale, Red Hawk Academy in Peoria and many others.
“It’s so rewarding – it means everything,” said amateur fighter Zac North about training at Arizona Combat Sports. “Being able to get up early, get some work in with some people who also are about the grind, showing up, working hard.”
North, who grew up in Maryland and began competing in amateur boxing in high school, found his way into Arizona’s MMA scene after he began studying at ASU and moved to Tempe.
“Oh, it’s a hotbed, man,” North said. “You go 15 minutes south, northwest of here, you’re going to find either another Muay Thai gym or an MMA gym, any type of combat sports.”
Nyan Lopez, a Marine Corps veteran, began training at Arizona Combat Sports a year and a half ago after searching for things to do. He eventually turned to the gym as a place to train following limited wrestling experience in high school.
Multiple options and the opportunity to level up in the fight game drove Lopez to Arizona Combat Sports.
“I was kind of just looking for a gym to where I know I could go pro eventually one day,” said Lopez, a blue belt in jiu jitsu. “I want to go on that route, and I saw that some of these fighters are like the best in the area, and I knew I wanted to push myself.”
While looking to eventually go professional, Lopez has trained as an amateur fighter and recently competed in Thailand. The MMA community in Arizona has prepared him, he said.
“I would say as a whole, they’re definitely tight knit,” Lopez said. “You can count on one another. They want you to grow. They don’t want you to just not try your best and show up. They want you to push yourself every day, be on time, be consistent.”
Current superstar and former UFC champion Sean O’Malley is one of the many UFC fighters to train at The MMA Lab. He now trains at the Red Hawk Academy where his coach, Tim Welch, founded the gym and is adding to the pipeline of talent.
Fight Ready MMA has produced high end talent including former two-division UFC champion Cejudo and ranked UFC flyweight Tracy Cortez.
“Arizona is a hot spot for MMA,” said Dyla Rush, Cejudo’s producer and an MMA reporter. “I think that the three places around here are definitely Vegas, Colorado and Arizona. But the MMA scene has grown exponentially over the years.
“But Arizona specifically, they have two of the best gyms in the country: Fight Ready MMA and Fitness … and the MMA Lab out in Glendale, Arizona.”
It wouldn’t be surprising to see more gyms dot the Arizona landscape in the future as the sport continues to grow in popularity.
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