Kings MMA

The Cordeiro foundation

Kings MMA was founded in 2010 in Huntington Beach, California by Rafael Cordeiro, the long-time former Chute Boxe Academy head coach. The gym brought the Chute Boxe Brazilian Muay Thai tradition to the California training scene — a more accessible variant of the brutal training culture that had defined PRIDE-era Brazilian MMA.

Cordeiro's coaching pedigree from Chute Boxe (Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua, Anderson Silva in his early career, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Murilo Bustamante) gave Kings MMA immediate credibility when it opened. By 2012 the gym had expanded to one of the largest combat-sports training facilities in Southern California, with permanent staff handling striking, wrestling, BJJ, and S&C.

The Huntington Beach location was deliberate — the Southern California combat sports community (including Greg Jackson-affiliated coaches, multiple ADCC competitors, and a deep BJJ academy network) provided cross-training infrastructure that Cordeiro could integrate into the Kings program.

The Chute Boxe lineage

Cordeiro's coaching lineage runs through:

• Rudimar Fedrigo (Chute Boxe founder): Cordeiro's primary coaching mentor; the Brazilian Muay Thai tradition that produced the PRIDE-era Brazilian striking dominance.
• Wanderlei Silva and Shogun Rua: as fellow Chute Boxe-era training partners who shaped the Brazilian Muay Thai application to MMA.
• The Brazilian Muay Thai tradition generally: the cross-pollination between Chute Boxe and the Brazilian Top Team striking lineage.

The Kings MMA coaching template is recognizably Chute Boxe — forward-pressure striking, clinch knee work, heavy hooks — but adapted for the modern UFC competitive environment (lighter sparring intensity, more game-plan-driven preparation, integrated S&C).

The roster

• Fabricio Werdum — UFC heavyweight champion 2015 (won the title at UFC 188 over Cain Velasquez). The defining Kings MMA championship.
• Lyoto Machida (training affiliations) — UFC LHW champion 2009. Lyoto trained at Kings during portions of his middleweight transition era.
• Wanderlei Silva (post-PRIDE training stretches) — UFC and PRIDE LHW + middleweight contender. Wanderlei used Kings as his US training base during his late-career UFC bouts.
• Shogun Rua (training stretches) — UFC LHW champion 2010.
• Rafael dos Anjos — UFC lightweight champion 2015–2016. RDA's championship-era training included extensive work at Kings MMA.
• Pedro Rizzo, Vitor Belfort (visiting camps), various regional UFC contracted fighters.

The roster includes both full-time Kings-based athletes and visiting fighters who use the gym for Cordeiro's striking-coaching expertise. The "destination camp" model — fighters traveling to Kings for specific bout preparation — has been more important to the gym's identity than a stable-house roster.

The Brazilian Muay Thai program

Cordeiro's coaching emphasizes four pillars:

Forward-pressure striking. Aggressive combinations driving forward. The Chute Boxe tradition was built around forward pressure — Wanderlei Silva's career-defining identity — and Cordeiro's Kings MMA template retains the forward-pressure foundation.

Clinch knee strikes. Thai plum entries and knee finishes. The clinch program at Kings is one of the most-respected in US MMA; multiple Kings-affiliated fighters have produced clinch-finish wins at championship level.

Heavy hooks. Looping power punches. The Brazilian Muay Thai tradition emphasizes hooks over crosses; the Kings boxing template reflects this Brazilian influence rather than the standard American boxing emphasis on jab-cross combinations.

Cardio depth. Training-volume-heavy preparation for championship-rounds capacity. Cordeiro's Chute Boxe tradition was famously demanding; the Kings MMA training schedule is gentler but retains the championship-rounds-cardio expectation.

The style is gentler than Chute Boxe's original training culture (no full-contact daily sparring with minimal protection) but retains the technical content of the Brazilian Muay Thai tradition.

The Werdum heavyweight title

Kings MMA's championship moment was Fabricio Werdum's UFC heavyweight title win at UFC 188 (June 2015) — submission of Cain Velasquez via guillotine choke in round 3. The bout was held in Mexico City at altitude (over 7,000 feet elevation), which contributed to Velasquez's cardio struggles, but Werdum's strategic preparation under Cordeiro was the technical basis for the result.

The fight had been postponed multiple times due to Velasquez's injury history; Werdum's camp used the extended preparation window to drill the specific guillotine-from-front-headlock setup that ended the bout. Cordeiro's pre-fight assessment was that Velasquez's takedown attempts at altitude would produce the front-headlock opening — exactly what happened.

Werdum lost the title to Stipe Miocic at UFC 198 (May 2016) and his championship era ended, but the Kings MMA credential as a championship-level training base was established. The Werdum-Cordeiro partnership continued through Werdum's career retirement.

The Rafael dos Anjos era

RDA's championship-era training (2014–2017) at Kings produced:

• UFC 185 vs Anthony Pettis (March 2015): title-winning unanimous decision. The clinic was a clean Cordeiro gameplan — pressure-and-clinch against Pettis's distance striking.
• UFC 196 vs Conor McGregor (cancelled): RDA was scheduled to defend against McGregor before withdrawing with a broken foot. The replacement (McGregor vs Nate Diaz) became one of the most-iconic UFC moments.
• UFC on FOX 17 vs Donald Cerrone (December 2015): 66-second title-defending KO. Kings MMA's striking development produced.

RDA's loss to Eddie Alvarez at UFC Fight Night 90 (July 2016) ended his lightweight title reign but didn't end the Kings MMA relationship.

Signature corner moments

• UFC 188, Werdum vs Velasquez, June 2015: Cordeiro's pre-fight gameplan emphasized cardio patience and front-headlock submission setups specifically. The guillotine at 2:13 of round 3 followed the prepared template.
• UFC 185, dos Anjos vs Pettis, March 2015: Cordeiro's gameplan was clinch-and-pressure to neutralize Pettis's distance kicks. RDA controlled all five rounds.
• UFC on FOX 17, dos Anjos vs Cerrone 2, December 2015: the 66-second KO. Cordeiro had identified the Cerrone left-hook vulnerability and drilled the specific counter that ended the bout.

The post-2018 transition

The 2018-2020 Kings MMA roster declined in championship-level activity. Cordeiro's coaching reputation has remained strong, and the gym continues to attract Brazilian and Latin-American fighters preparing major UFC bouts. The destination-camp model has continued to define the gym's competitive identity, with visiting athletes regularly using the facility for specific camps.

The 2024–2026 roster includes second-tier UFC and Bellator athletes plus a developing Latin-American contender pool, but no current UFC champion.

The cultural identity

Kings MMA's identity is the Brazilian Muay Thai tradition adapted for the modern California training scene. The gym preserves elements of the Chute Boxe culture (forward-pressure striking, clinch emphasis, cardio depth) while operating as a modern professional training facility rather than the brutal training-culture environment that defined the original Chute Boxe in Curitiba.

The legacy

Kings MMA is the bridge between the PRIDE-era Chute Boxe tradition and the modern US MMA scene. The Cordeiro coaching credentials and the Werdum heavyweight title remain the gym's significant championship-level credentials. The dos Anjos championship-era training and the Wanderlei Silva late-career US training base are additional contributors to the gym's championship credibility.

The "destination camp" model that Kings MMA pioneered — where elite athletes travel to a specific coach for specific camps without joining the stable-house roster — has been imitated by subsequent Cordeiro-influenced gyms and remains a viable alternative to the larger super-gym model.