Ed Clay’s Nashville MMA (NMMA) is the longest running MMA school in Nashville, Tennessee.  We currently have three Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt instructors, professional Thai fighter Muay Thai coaches, All American College wrestling instructors, a World Champion boxing coach, an amazing 20,000 square foot facility and of course, the best MMA trainers and fighters in the state.

It’s no surprise that people are jumping on the MMA bandwagon and all of a sudden teaching MMA.  It’s also no surprise that Karate and Taekwondo schools are starting to call themselves MMA schools when they have absolutely no MMA back ground.

So what is MMA?  As many people would like you to believe it is not traditional martial arts mixed together. It is mainly a blend of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu(BJJ), Muay Thai kickboxing, boxing, and wrestling. Every now and again you can mix in a fancy karate/taekwondo style kick, but only if you know how to fight on the ground.  These kicks are very low percentage and you will probably end up on your back if you try it.

There are many schools teaching BJJ and ground fighting now in Nashville.  They are all pretty much garbage. It is a fact we have blue belts who will easily tap out everyone of these so called BJJ instructors.  If someone thinks that’s a harsh statement, we would be glad to back it up. We offer classes to kids as young as 5 and adults of all ages. In 2007, both our kids and adult BJJ team were ranked number 5 in the nation.  We were the highest ranked, non chain school in the country.

If you’re looking for a no nonsense, non political, no B.S. MMA schools the look no further. Nashville Mixed Martial Arts is the best…PERIOD!!!

19 REVIEWS

  • nick higney says:

    i just moved to the area from florida, and am looking into getting into mma. i am 24yrs old and have been a wrestler since i was in the 5th grade. I’m also not that bad with my hands. Anyway i was wondering about joining a gym that trains and competes. If there is anyway u could either give me some info on joining a gym or at least point me in the right direction. Thank you for your time and i will be looking forward to your response. If it would make it easier my cell phone number is …… , and my name is nick

  • mmagal says:

    Hi Nick, not sure if you want to give your phone number out here on the review section, but please go ahead and contact the gym directly at Phone: 615-297-4430
    or visit their website: http://nashvillemma.com

  • Kelvin Tiller says:

    I WOULD LIKE TO TRAIN IN THIS GYM

  • droc says:

    Hi Kevin, if you would like to start training, Nashville MMA’s information is up above!

  • Victor Griffin says:

    I wouldn’t recommend anyone to this gym. First off, I wanna say thank you to Shawn Hammond who is the only level-headed instructor in the whole gym. As for the rest of the instructors, they are a bunch of backstabbing human beings. They let me train for free which was very generous of them, but why would i bite the hand that feeds me?

    They said that they have a videotape of me stealing. First of all, i was not raised to steal. I was taught to work for everything i get in this world. I don’t and never would have stolen anything from that gym. They said that i can train for free but then you accuse me of stealing and then throw in my face the fact that you let me train in here for free? Give me a break. If they had a problem with me training for free, they should have said something from the start. Everyone in that gym has been nothing but phony and fake since the day i walked in.

  • victor griffin says:

    Second of all i have been wearing the same Gi for months and they said that i stole it friday. the instructors are very judgemental and to me that is very unprofessional. Ray casais came to me and accused me of stealing but didn’t want to hear what i had to say. They only believe what they want to hear and see what they want to see. To me him and his wife are made for each other because both of them are nothing but two-faced,unprofessional,backstabbing liars. If you want to get real training with respectable instructors then i would strongly advise you not to go to ed clay’s. I see that he wasn’t man enough to confront me about the situation man to man, he had to send his hoodlums to do it for him.

  • Sean 'spyder' Pulizzano says:

    First of all Victor, we have two students that personally saw you in the Gameness Warehouse (off limits area) after hours taking a Gi and some shirts to your vehicle and another date and time where you had a Gameness jersey over your shoulder coming out of the Gameness office (another off limits area). These are areas that no one period need to be in!!! especially after hours!!. Ed, let you train for free!! and this is how you repay him!! Don’t blame Ed’s Gym!!! blame yourself for stealing!! If I saw you do this I would have arrested you on the spot!! Sincerly, Officer Sean “spyder” Pulizzano (one of the backstabbing instructors lol!!)

  • Ed Clay says:

    Victor,

    I wasn’t going to file charges but it’s obvious that you haven’t learned anything from this situation. It’s amazing to me that someone who I was trying to help out do to you being low on funds at the time not only would steal, but would make a stupid post like the above.

    There were 2 people who saw you in the Gameness wharehouse which is off limits. When Ray confronted you on Monday you admitted to taking a pair of shorts on Friday but you said you planned on paying us on Monday (Which you never paid us for). Also when asked about the Gameness jersey you had you said you found it in the dumpster? Not to mention the new blue Gameness gi you had on which you NEVER paid for.

    As far as Ray, he is the GM of the gym and it’s his job to deal with everything that goes on at Nashville MMA.(that includes you stealing) And Ray’s wife is the head of WKA in TN and a respected attorney. Far from being “two faced unprofessional, backstabbing liars”.

    As far as the other instructors at Nashville MMA they have nothing to do with this. I have no idea how you could consider anyone backstabbing but yourself. You literally bit the hand the fed you and screwed up your relationship with a gym that tried to help you out and let you train even though you didn’t have money. You should be mad at yourself for making a bad decision that caused you to lose the privelege of training at our gym.

    It was suggested to me that I press charges against you but my original choice was to simply not have you train at the gym. After reading your above post I think I’ll go with the suggestion and start the legal process tomorrow.

    Ed Clay

  • jamie bryant says:

    hey victor, this is a little surprising to say the least. first off, i’m no hoodlum… that’s laughable at best. second, you said you went back in the warehouse to see if we had your size so you could buy them monday. that’s what you told us in the room, is it not? why wouldn’t we have your size? we’re the largest distributor of bjj gis and fightwear in the world. wouldn’t it have been easier to ask one of the many employees of gameness if we had your size instead of going through the warehouse stock by yourself? you walked right through a door with a sign that in big black letters reads, “EMPLOYEES ONLY. KEEP OUT.” …that should’ve been a dead giveaway. also, you told us you found the jersey in the dumpster? come on bro. you mean to tell me you went through the gym, into the back warehouse, jumped off the loading dock, found a jersey in the trash can, jumped back up the loading dock, came back through the warehouse and into the gym? haha be serious.

    These posts you made are laughable at best. i’m sorry you had a bad experience and it sucks the way things turned out, but you live and learn. everything you typed out could’ve been easily avoided if you had brought it up when we were all talking.

    beyond that, i’ve got 400 other guys here that would completely disagree with you on everything you said and none of them were rummaging through the warehouse and coming out with jerseys on their shoulders. see a connection?

  • mmagyms says:

    Gentleman, thank you for your reviews and thoughts of this MMA gym. You have every right to speak your mind and to defend any accusations or inquiries. These personal matters between the MMA gym and the client need to be taken offline and handled privately. We encourage the two of you to work these matters out privately. Again, thank you for your reviews on our website.

  • Ed Clay says:

    I agree 100%. It was handled privately at first and then I was told about his post so I responded.

  • Austin Russell says:

    I have been training at Ed’s for a little over a year and it’s nothing other than addicting. Every instructor there is professional and wants their students to be the best in the world. I have seen people come in for just a few months and then get lined up to fight. If you are willing to want to learn then you will learn fast.

  • Marie says:

    I am very interested in training here 🙂

  • Sean M. Kilcrease Sr. says:

    I am interested in enrolling my 9yr old son at this gym.

  • Nathan says:

    I have been training at Nashville mma for half a year now I originally trained in Chattanooga when I moved to Nashville I started training with them and let me tell you this is one of the best gym’s in the country with some of the best instructor’s in the country and the facility is huge!!! I highly recommend training at Nashville MMA

  • gene rymer says:

    my daughter @ 14 wanted to become a world class fighter. we live over an hour drive from nmma. we met with the staff, i felt good about all my research on ed clay and staff. we now have been training there for almost 2 years. the training is the best, my daughter now 16 is 2-0 in the cage, against adult ranked female fighters. 15 plus medals/championships in the adult bjj divisions. runner up in the naga world bjj adult cup at 15. runner up 2010 tssaa wrestling champ, one defeat in rookie season. amazing teacher mr shawn hammons. in her stand up she is 2-0, thai instructor lance patrick sees her as a fighter and trains her with and like the men. she has grown into an amazing female fighter. i can trust when she arrives she gets the best training and is safe. we have never had anyone act inappropriate or mistreat her in any way. you will never go wrong with this gym, just stop in or watch my daughter at her next fight, you will be amazed at the earned talent, focus and relationship she has been given. my hat is truley off to ed clay, shockman, shawn and mr. lance. this team has met every goal my daughter has set and now wants to knock on the door of strikeforce in less than 2 years. once you come in your not a number, you become family and the nmma team.

  • Billy Carver says:

    I was training at Ed Clay’s gym for a couple of months and i loved it! Everyday I left the gym ready to come back the next day lol. All the staff are very professional and makes sure everybody gets 1 on 1 time when they have a question. I’ll be back at the gym soon to finish what i started for sure!

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  • zach says:

    hey I’m 18 and I’m looking to get into the mma.. I don’t know where to start. I currently reside in paris, tn. any help at all would be great thanks.

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