It’s a new year, so Combat Press is taking a look back at the best of MMA in 2017. Throughout the next few weeks, Combat Press will announce its award winners in multiple categories, covering everything from the action in the cage to the biggest stories surrounding the sport.
Gym of the Year – American Top Team
Everyone knows that fighting is an individual sport. Two combatants step into a locked cage and must rely on their individual skills and will to win if they want to take home a victory. However, while there may only be two fighters in the cage on fight night, the days, weeks, months and years of preparation that go into creating fighters is anything but an individual effort. Athletes need facilities, coaches, training partners, nutrition plans and various other forms of support to prepare them for battle. While no gym has a perfect winning record, it takes the right mix of assets to give a fighter the best chance of victory.
In 2017, one gym stood head and shoulders above the rest. Not only did American Top Team retain titles in two stacked divisions — UFC welterweight with Tyron Woodley and Bellator welterweight with Douglas Lima — but the gym also aided in the meteoric rise of Colby Covington, as well as the surge toward the top by Dustin Poirier and Tecia Torres in their respective divisions.
American Top Team is a wide and diverse gym with affiliate locations all over the United States. However, it seems that the majority of the highest-level fighters will converge upon the headquarters in Coconut Creek, Fla., to complete their training camps with coach Mike Brown, the former WEC featherweight champ who infamously blasted Urijah Faber clean off his feet, often in their corners.
American Top Team has always been one of the best gyms in MMA, but 2017 was a banner year for the team. The gym earned the unanimous honor as the Combat Press 2017 pick for “Gym of the Year.”
Make sure you check out the rest of the Combat Press 2017 MMA Award winners.