So now that you have decided that you are ready to give up a normal life in exchange for one of pain and sacrifice. All you need now is a place to do it, or maybe a place to have "it done to you".

There are so many places these days which advertise them selves as MMA training camps, or similar claims. Truth be told, it's marketing and business. If you knew there was a new hot product that people were out trying to find, and all you had to do was rename your current Karate school to MMA training center, well makes sense financially. Really though, most places out there claiming to be a MMA school are just fooling you, or themselves.

Here are, in no paticular order are some of the real, nitty gritty schools out there who are actively churning out real fighters. Remember these are just a few of the top ones. There are hundreds of great schools out there, they have just yet to make a nam for them selves.

When I set out to put this list together, I figured in certain factors.

1- How active the school has been, as far as having fighters compete.

2- The amount of success generated by the school and the amount of drive there is to push all of the fighters foward.

3- The legacy and the history of the school, and what they have shown to be capable of in the past.

4- Room for growth, and how many up and commers they have,

5- Accessability, many gyms have some great fighters, but that's it just one or two. Usually in a gym like that every one else comes second the member base is simply there just to keep the school alive and there is no real interest in developing new fighters.