THE ARENA | The Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, MMA & Muay Thai Gym in San Diego

Steel MMA is good, the head coach is very well respected, 10p is also really good too, but they definitely have more of an expertise for BJJ. San Diego is honestly a hotbed for a lot of good BJJ and striking coaches. OP has their pick of the litter for what gyms to choose from, either a more hobbyist gym or more serious competition gym *edit* to OP when you look at a gyms, do look at how many girls are in the classes, that’s kind of a good indicator if the gym is full of creeps or not. Obviously male dominated, but if the gym has 1 to zero girls in their classes, it’ll be a red flag to me. source, 2025 ↗

positive

I think you should visit a couple of places. If you can throw a rock in San Diego, you’ll hit a BJJ gym. I’ve trained at a few of the following and have heard great things about the others: -North Coast JiuJitsu -Victory MMA -Legion -Alliance -The Arena -10th Planet San Diego source, 2025 ↗

positive

It was at Keenan Cornelius' gym in San Diego. He's a spectacular coach and person. But he's not known for being traditional. When I started Jiu Jitsu at Saulo Ribeiros place, I got paired off with an upper belt for 1-2 days before they put me in the bullpen. Keenan had no such policy, and he's just much more laid back, in the "American" style. ¯\\\\\\_(ツ)\\_/¯ source, 2025 ↗

neutral

Cole here from Gold BJJ - thanks for the shout! We offer 3 different models of no-gi shorts... Classic (our most stretchy): [https://goldbjj.com/products/fight-shorts](https://goldbjj.com/products/fight-shorts) Pacific (board short feel, our best seller): [https://goldbjj.com/products/pacific-shorts](https://goldbjj.com/products/pacific-shorts) AirFlex (ripstop material, our newest model): [https://goldbjj.com/products/airflex-shorts](https://goldbjj.com/products/airflex-shorts) All gear ships within 1 day from our San Diego HQ, and we offer free prepaid returns if for whatever reason th source, 2024 ↗

positive

San Diego, or the US in general, have a very small Argentine community A lot of Mexicans here (who make up a large number of the soccer fanbase here) also hate the Argentina soccer team 😂 If you were a Brazil supporter, San Diego is great to watch a Brazil soccer game with actual Brazilians. We have legit Brazilian restaurants and since Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is big here, there’s a sizable Brazilian expat community . Alas, Brazil is out of the Copa America source, 2024 ↗

positive

Former LE ( child abuse ) for 10 years in Cali in my mid 20s to mid 30's. Now I'm almost 50 and an escort. I was "volunteered" ( I didn't volunteer by choice ) to go undercover as a prostitute in a huge sting in San Diego. I hated every minute, and was given three days paid suspension after internal affairs had me come in because I started making body language to clients that it was a sting. Like moving my eyes and mouthing "psst keep going im a cop". 😅😅😅 Especially young kids who didn't need their records screwed up. Two weeks doing that. I made a point from the beginning that this does not source, 2024 ↗

neutral

So you just made a list of the gyms in San Diego? This is the information from their websites (some of it outdated) without having any inout from people that train there, or having visited yourself. Funny how The Arena with Baret Yoshida teaching numerous times a day is never mentioned. source, 2020 ↗

neutral

Was it Atos or University of JJ? They’re a bit known for high drop in fees IIRC. I’ve been to roughly 10 gyms in San Diego (spread out over a couple years) while visiting family and you’ve got a lot of great options. Honu BJJ, the Arena, 99 Jiu Jitsu, Victory MMA, Fabio Santos, they’re all awesome places I recommend. Of these, the Arena, Victory MMA, and Fabio Santos all have big names who were there and teaching the random classes I happened to drop by in. I’d recommend trying out all of these (and more), as for the drop in fee, only 3/10 ever actually charged and it was always ~$20. But I source, 2020 ↗

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