Show up with a mouth-guard, hand-wraps, and a pair of clean 4-oz gloves; the front desk will ask for a photo ID and a quick waiver signature before they hand you a key-card.
Monthly fees start at 79 USD for mat access only; add striking or grappling classes and the price climbs to 149 USD. Expect a one-time enrollment of 99 USD that covers the gi rental, first private coaching session, and the mandatory medical check.
On arrival you’ll get a 15-minute orientation: locker assignment, code of conduct, and a walk-through of the octagon, cages, and heavy-bag stations. Trainers pair newcomers with a “buddy” member for warm-ups, then shuffle everyone into small groups based on experience so the ice is broken before the real grind begins.
Exact Age & ID Rules to Get on the Mat
Show up with a government photo ID plus one backup document–driver’s license plus passport or birth certificate for minors. No copy, no entry.
Minimum age is four for the Little Sharks class, but the front desk will still ask for the child’s original birth certificate and a parent’s matching ID every single visit.
Teens 13–17 sign the same waiver adults use; bring a school ID or yearbook photo if no permit yet. Parent or court-appointed guardian must countersign in ink–digital scribbles rejected.
Adult sessions open at 18. If your license expired yesterday, security will hand you a tablet to renew on the spot; they keep the expired card until the state e-mails a temporary PDF.
Senior divisions start at 35. AARP cards count as secondary proof, but you still need the primary government ID. Front desk photographs both sides for their encrypted file.
Drop-ins from overseas flash the passport page with the entry stamp; if the stamp’s older than six months, bring the I-94 printout or they treat you as a tourist and charge the day-pass rate.
Lost your wallet? One-time exception: the manager FaceTimes a notary, you sign a one-page affidavit, pay a 25-dollar verification fee, then the system tags your profile for ID check every future visit.
Expired visas or suspended licenses trigger an automatic freeze on membership renewal until Immigration or DMV sends clearance; no refunds during the freeze, but you keep access to the app library.
Contracts, Drop-Ins, Membership Tiers: Price Sheet Breakdown
Pick the punch-card 10-pack if you hate paperwork: $179, no freeze, no exit fee, valid 90 days at most North-American locations. Month-to-month stays hover around $89, but ask for the annual draft; prepaid 12 months drop the average to $69 and you keep the same access. Fine print: 30-day written notice to cancel, $49 late-cancellation bite, plus $39 card-replacement if you lose the RFID.
Drop-in warriors pay $25 per 60-minute striking or grappling class, $35 for the small-group HIIT circuit that includes gloves. Bring your own wraps; rental mitts add $5. No reservation after 5 p.m.; walk-ins sign a same-day waiver via iPad at the counter.
Premium unlocks 24-hour key-tag, unlimited mat time, sauna, cold-plunge, plus one private coach session monthly; $149 regular, $129 student, $119 military/first-responder. Founders’ rate locks for life if you join within the first 60 days of a new facility opening; after that window, expect 6–8 % yearly bump. Corporate bundles run $10 off each when five co-workers enroll together; payroll deduction available. Read every page: freezing for travel costs $15 per month and the clock still ticks toward any prepaid private sessions. Ask the manager to email the full chart; wall flyers only list the teaser digits.
What to Bring in Your Bag: Gear Checklist from Front Desk
Pack a pair of spotless boxing wraps, 180-inch cotton or Mexican-style, already rolled so the coach doesn’t waste minutes untangling your mess while others wait.
Slide a fitted mouthguard into a vented plastic case; boil-and-bite works for starters, but the front desk keeps a list of dentists who laser-shape pro-level ones for fifty bucks.
Flip-flops stay by the mat edge, not socks; staph loves damp fabric. Bring a microfiber towel no wider than your shoulder span–oversized ones hog bench space and annoy veterans.
- 4-oz MMA gloves for bag rounds
- 7-oz sparring gloves (club rule: red or blue only)
- Rash-guard tee, no zippers
- Steel water bottle, 1 L minimum
- Small combination lock (front desk rents, but sell out fast)
Compression shorts with a cup pocket beat jockstraps that shift mid-round; stuff an extra slide-in shield for Muay Thai sessions where low-kicks land harder than sparring.
Print your waiver QR code before arrival; phones die and the kiosk line snakes past the heavy bags. Slip a granola bar into the side pouch–locker room vending stock disappears after 7 p.m., and the café closes once night classes start. https://arroznegro.club/articles/giants-hire-sam-rosengarten-as-director-of-high-performance-add-5-fo-and-more.html
First-Class Timeline: Warm-Up, Technique, Sparring Minute-by-Minute
Arrive ten minutes early, slap on wraps, jog four laps, then 30 s high-knees, 30 s butt-kicks, 30 s jumping jacks, 30 s mountain climbers, 30 s hip openers, 30 s neck rolls–clock hits 7:00 sharp, heart at 130 bpm, sweat already beading.
7:03–7:25 coach demos inside-leg kick, outside-leg kick, switch-step question-mark kick; partners hold pads, three-count combos, reset every minute, water sip at 7:15, micro-corrections on pivot foot, shin angle, guard recovery; last five minutes flow into catch-and-sweep drill, loser shuffles baseline, winner stays.
7:30 mouthguards in, 2×3 min light spar, 1 min rest, coach yells “30 % power, touch don’t kill”; 7:40 switch to ground round, start from knees, hunt arm-drag to back, sink hooks, finish rear-naked; 7:50 stretch, high-five, wipe blood from lip, shower, out by 8:05.
Coach Evaluation: How Skills Are Ranked for Level Placement
Show up fifteen minutes early, hand the evaluator tape, mouthguard, and a towel, then shadow-box for thirty seconds–your footwork alone decides if you start in Fundamentals or Advanced.
Striking placement hinges on six punches on the pad: jab, cross, hook, uppercut, overhand, shovel. Miss the fifth beat or land flat-footed twice and you slide down a tier regardless of how hard you hit.
Grapplers roll three two-minute rounds. Escape mount once, secure back control once, show one sweep. Fail any checkpoint and you repeat the circuit against a heavier partner; survive and you keep the stripe.
Kids 8–13 skip power tests; instead they recite a safety code and demonstrate break-fall on a crash pad. Teens 14–17 add burpee count: forty inside ninety seconds, no knee touch, or they stay in the youth bracket another cycle.
Blue shirts watch everything, jotting tiny circles for balance, triangles for timing, squares for telegraphing. One irregular mark beside your name equals one extra week before retest, two marks mean private session surcharges.
After the numbers, the chief asks one surprise question–“What’s your safe word?”–to check if you listened during the waiver video. Answer wrong and you repeat the whole hour, right and you seal the wristband that opens the bay doors.
Hidden Fees: Processing, Belt Tests, and Gear Markups to Budget
Before you sign anything, demand a line-by-line breakdown of every charge beyond the monthly fee; most franchises quietly slip in a $39–$49 “enrollment processing” hit that re-appears every year, plus $25 for a replacement key-card, and a $75 “belt evaluation” every three months even if you never asked to rank.
| Surprise Fee | Typical Price | How Often |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment processing | $39–$49 | Yearly |
| Belt test | $60–$90 | Quarterly |
| Official gloves | $45 above retail | Per pair |
| Stripe tape / patch | $5–$8 | Each promotion |
Staff push “approved” gloves, shin guards, and rash guards at a 40 % markup; bring your own gear the first week, jot down model numbers, then order online and save the cash for private sessions instead of letting it vanish into the pro-shop register.
FAQ:
I’m 38, overweight, and have never thrown a punch. Will the UFC Gym laugh me out the door?
They won’t even smirk. Every new member—regardless of age, shape, or experience—starts in the same 30-minute orientation. You fill a standard health form, get a quick blood-pressure check, and watch a five-minute safety clip. After that, the coach pairs you with two or three other beginners for a low-impact warm-up: rower, battle-rope walk, basic footwork ladders. The only thing you have to “prove” is that you can move without pain. If you can step on and off a 12-inch box, you’re cleared for the Fundamentals package. Most first-timers leave surprised that nobody asked them to spar, hit pads, or take their shirt off.
What does the $149 “UFC Gym Fundamentals” month actually buy me? Unlimited mat time or just two token classes?
It buys you a key-card that works 4 a.m.–11 p.m. and unlimited access to every class marked “Level 1” on the schedule. That’s usually 28–32 sessions a week: kickboxing, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, HIIT, yoga, and the daily “UFC Fit” circuit. You can hit one or five classes a day; nobody counts. The only extra charge is the small-group mat session with a black-belt—$25 if you want it, not required. Gloves and wraps are lent free for the first two weeks, so you can test sizes before you shop.
On my first day do I need to bring my own mouth-guard or will they hand me one?
Leave the mouth-guard at home for now. Beginner classes are no-contact: you strike pads, not people. The gym stocks communal gloves and wraps; just wash your hands and slip them on. If you later join the intermediate “sparring” block, the front-desk sells boil-and-bite guards for $12 or custom ones for $65, but nobody pressures you to upgrade until you choose to.
Hidden fees—what’s the real number that will show up on my card?
The billboard rate is $149, but the first bill always includes two one-time hits: $50 enrollment (waived during most holiday sales) and $49 for the key-card. After that, the only surprise is the annual $39 club fee that hits every 12 months. Freeze your account for up to three months a year and you skip that charge. Canceling takes 30 days’ notice and a signed form; no buy-out, no penalty. All told, if you stay 14 months, you pay roughly $2,150 including taxes—no towels, no locker rental, no belt-testing fees.