I could be a UFC Champ if I could just find the right Gym!

These words were spoken by my dumb friend a few weeks ago. He said them with his chest all puffed out and confidence that comes with knowing he’d never have to try to prove his machismo.

I nodded. “You really think so?”

“Hell yeah, but I can’t find a damn gym.”

“So that’s the only thing stopping you?”

“Yep,” he said and punched his fist into his palm. “That’s all that’s keeping me from the belt.”

I smiled and patted him on his soft shoulder. “Have you ever heard of Find MMA Gyms?” I asked.

He gave me a deer in the headlights look and I went on to tell him that in just a few clicks we could probably find a gym just miles away. Find MMA Gyms is the place to find a gym in the U.S. and now in Canada too.

The web site is a terrific resource for anybody searching for a combat sports gym in their area. I talked with founder William Li not long ago and found out that the site now has over 3,500 gyms listed and it’s still getting daily submissions. California is still the reigning king, but Florida, Texas, and New York are gaining.

We all know Canada is an MMA hotbed. The UFC routinely sells out the Canadian venues in something like 4.3 seconds. William said of Canadian gyms, “We started getting a few submissions from Canadian gyms and realized we couldn't add them to our USA site. The .ca website was always on the back of my mind, but never got around to putting it together. For crying out loud, Georges St-Pierre, the reigning Welterweight Champion of the UFC, is Canadian and trains at Tristar MMA gym (Montreal). Mixed martial arts in Canada has always been hot and we just felt it necessary to expand Find MMA Gym to North America. MMA Gyms Canada is now live and we couldn't be more excited to see how it will grow.”

And delving a little further into the Canadian MMA gym market, William talked of the recent news about MMA legislation in Ontario. “The amount of MMA gyms in Ontario, Canada is growing out of control. It is, by far, the province with the most mixed martial arts gyms. Clearly, legislation is a huge step and another hurdle cleared in growing the sport of MMA into Canada.”

Both sites, http://www.findmmagym.com/ and http://www.findmmagym.ca/ are easy to use and they provide much more than just a list of gyms. Reviews, videos, top ten gyms, and MMA training techniques can all be found with a click of the mouse.

William Li is a name not many people in the industry probably know, but they should. He and his staff are providing a great service to aspiring MMA athletes all over the United States and now Canada, and one day he plans to expand to other countries as well.

My super tough friend hasn’t been to the site yet. I guess he doesn’t want that belt so bad after all.