Absolute MMA (Collingwood & CBD) Review — Training with the Pros

In 2024, I had the pleasure of starting training at Absolute MMA in Melbourne, Australia (here are my thoughts on living in Melbourne). I started off at the Collingwood location, as it was near where I first lived, but moved to the CBD location when I moved to the west of the city, commuting in by train almost daily.

After six months, I now consider it my home gym, and I look forward to training here long term.

Before arriving in Melbourne, I had been looking forward to training at Absolute MMA for years. Literally. I’m Australian, but spent most of the last six years abroad, travelling (I still travel 50%, though am taking a break this year). When I train in gyms overseas, once the locals learn that I’m Australian, they often ask “Do you train at Absolute?” I’d sheepishly reply that no, I don’t, and no, I haven’t met Lachlan Giles (who is strongly associated with the gym, but who is mostly at other locations).

Well, I’ve now trained at Absolute (though, inexcusably, I haven’t met any of its star competitors!) and have a good impression of it. I really love my time at Absolute — it’s my home away from home.

But despite this, Absolute MMA may not be perfect for everyone, for example, if you’re looking for a small gym vibe with one dedicated coach and a group of people you consistently see all the time.

So below I’ll share more on:

• The culture at Absolute MMA
• The facilities at Absolute MMA (in the two locations I visited)
• What it’s like training there
• Technology (a unique feature of this gym)
• And various other thoughts

Buckle up – my reviews are long!

A Bit About Me

This isn’t an article about me — but if you’re thinking “Who’s this jamoke writing about my sport or gym?” then you should know about me for context. If you’re an MMA contender, you’ll quickly discard this review and go ask one of the other competitors at Absolute (and you should; their opinions will be more relevant).

I had around two years of training under my belt before arriving in Melbourne. It was at a bunch of other gyms. I train mostly in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (which includes with the gi, no-gi, the odd wrestling class, and sometimes an “MMA” class), but also enjoy boxing, Muay Thai, “MMA striking”, or whatever a coach or gym teaches.

To date I’ve done around 837 hours of training, the most recent 65.5 hours of which were at Absolute MMA. That might sound oddly specific, but it’s just straight out of my training log! (Which I initially started to track progress between belts, but I lost interest in belts a long time ago.)

I’m a middling blue belt in my forties with around 700 hours of training behind me. I haven’t competed. But every time I move gyms (every few months), I get destroyed by people I don’t know (wherever your ego is, nobody wants to lose to the new guy! And besides, as a new guy, it’s rude to go too hard right out the gate). So I never get the chance to be “complacent” — regular training is enough competition for me.

Anyway, enough about me. On to the gym.

Overview of Absolute MMA

Absolute MMA was founded by Simon Carson, former professional MMA fighter, 256th-place finisher at the Mongolian wrestling nationals, and head MMA coach at Collingwood. He founded the CBD location as well as the others that came later.

And my apologies — when I first published this, I erroneously wrote that Absolute MMA was founded by Lachlan Giles — whoops! Thankfully, the COO/GM of contacted me and corrected me (thanks, Daniel).

But my error was because the brand association between Absolute MMA and Lachlan Giles is so strong. Giles (or “Lachie” as he’s known locally) is a well-known BJJ competitor and instructor. He came on initially as a coach in the CBD location, and when it was launched, became a partner for the St Kilda location (which was initially in South Yarra). In the past, mentioning Absolute MMA may have also brought to mind Craig Jones, a former student of Giles, who has long since moved on to his own gym in Austin, Texas.

I haven’t yet met either Carson or Giles. I’m not a pro fighter, and I don’t train in St Kilda, so I haven’t naturally crossed paths with them. Despite this, I know they’re both well-respected as coaches and well-liked. Regarding Lachlan Giles though, I’ve seen enough of his training videos to get a sense of his style, his scientific approach, and general posture of humility, and I know I’d like him as a coach and human. One day!

You can see the dedication to exemplary coaching from the range of things going on at Absolute. The founders didn’t just put some mats down and start a gym, which is the minimum standard for a competitor wanting to diversify into coaching. Absolute is set up across multiple locations and has a technology stack for managing memberships and bookings. There’s even a separate app, Submeta, which contains very high-quality instructional videos in most of which Giles features. (Here’s my review of Submeta.)

Absolute MMA has three locations in Melbourne and one in Thailand. Each location has different flavours and areas of focus.

• St Kilda is where you go if you want to focus on grappling and jiu jitsu. I haven’t been there, but people keep saying to go and check it out. There’s a lot of “gi” here, plus it’s the only location with kids’ classes. There’s still striking /boxing there mind you.
• The CBD (Australian for “downtown” — means “Central Business District) has a mix of everything. It’s a bit of a weird location, split between basement and the top floor of an office building. But super convenient for all the professionals working in the city!
• Collingwood is the MMA HQ. It’s where a lot of fight team stuff happens. They don’t even have “gi” jiu jitsu at Collingwood.

You can see more at the timetables here.

Thailand has a different focus. I haven’t trained there (yet!), but from what I see online, it’s like other fight camps — you go and you stay there for a while and get better at whatever you need.

In my time at Absolute, I’ve trained nearly exclusively at the places most convenient to me. It’s not a huge city. But when I was living in Collingwood, the 10-minute walk to the Collingwood gym beat the 30-minute walk to the CBD one, or a 40-minute door-to-door journey via tram to the St Kilda location. Similarly, living in the inner west, the 40-minute commute to the CBD location is tolerable, but I have no particular urge to go further.

I could make the effort to get down to St Kilda on a Friday night or a weekend. But that time is precious to me. Life is hectic and Melbourne is hectic.

But if you’re a young person with lots of time and enthusiasm, I can see why you’d make the effort to go to multiple locations. It’d be worth it.

Absolute MMA Facilities

The facilities at Absolute MMA vary by location.

Absolute MMA Collingwood is cavernous. It has two areas for grappling training — a huge upstairs one and a downstairs one. There’s a spacious striking / MMA training area (on which grappling is also done), too, plus a boxing ring, plus an octagon. Collingwood also has two weightlifting areas, again, split between floors.

The Collingwood downstairs weight training gym has several squat racks. Absolute MMA Collingwood even has a pool table (though I don’t know the story behind it… maybe the previous tenants just left it because they’re very expensive to move).

Even though the Collingwood location is huge, it’s also a little basic. It’s an old warehouse building of sorts. So the upstairs room is super hot in summer, and freezing in winter. There’s no air conditioning (is there? Well, not that I noticed…). The lockers and showers are a little bare — I’ve seen far fancier gyms that were obviously built to be fancy.

But it’s the quality of the facilities that stands out. There are always a few indicators for a quality gym that I pick up on right away. Firstly, it’s always clean. I never noticed a weird smell, a common theme at MMA gyms. There’s no stuff lying around on the ground — no gear (it’s put in the lost and found promptly) nor misc training detritus. The mats are in good condition. In fact, while I was at Collingwood, the building was repainted, and I wasn’t even sure why — it looked fine to me!

Secondly, the gear is always neatly arranged. I never saw a boxing mitt without its pair! The weights in the weight room were always neatly in the correct places — every plate, every dumbbell. When you have that, everything else is typically in place, too.

The cleanliness and orderliness of the gym demonstrate that the members, coaches, and staff all respect Absolute MMA. They treat it with care. They’re happy to be there. And that makes it a good place to be for everyone.

The same is true of the CBD location, by the way. Everything is always neatly arranged. While training there, the Muay Thai pads fell into a gradual state of disarray, and they were all discarded and replaced.

I am sure that St Kilda, being the main home of one of the owners, would be exemplary in this regard, too.

The city (“CBD”) Absolute location is in the basement of an office building. The first time I went, I got a bit lost… I felt like I was on my way to a job interview! I didn’t find the door to the downstairs main grappling and weight training area (because I went there before normal work hours), and definitely couldn’t find my way up to the 10th floor for the boxing /striking area, which they call “Mat 3”.

The CBD location generally has a bit of everything, giving city folk a chance to train before or after work (or during). It has gi jiu jitsu as well as no gi, boxing / Muay Thai, and weights and cardio facilities.

The mats are quite big for a CBD location but huge. It can get crowded in the evenings, which is why I prepare my midday classes. There’s usually enough room for wrestling and takedowns, but you can’t dance around the mat willy-nilly.

There are also good weights and cardio facilities but they’re not quite as extensive as in Collingwood. And they’re dispersed between a few rooms.

Actually I think they’re woefully underutilized. Which is fine by me, because there are only enough weights for one person to do powerlifting at a time.

Because the city location is in an office building, it has a few benefits and quirks associated with such places. The top floor, “Mat 3”, (not pictured here) has loads of light — it’s like a penthouse boxing training area! But the basement has no natural light.

However, the main draw card of the CBD location is air conditioning. It’s cool in summer and warm in winter. The whole area is very well-ventilated through the building’s systems… this might make the city location the best one to train when it’s either too cold or too hot, a frequent feature of Melbourne’s fluctuating conditions.

(Yes, yes, I know, you’re straight outta Dagestan or Iceland and train in the snow, or you’re from Thailand or Brazil and train in tropical heat, and that’s great. But a balance is nice, sometimes.)

Absolute MMA St Kilda is mostly about grappling. It’s mostly a big grappling area, though there are some bags and pads, and very limited weight training stuff. It does have most of the classes the other areas have, with the addition of kids classes, and minus weight training classes.

All the locations have showers and locker rooms (though no lockable lockers — this is Australia and I suppose membership is quite controlled). I was surprised that most people don’t always shower after training unless they’re going straight to work. To me, this is mandatory! But then I suppose everyone else is yet to experience their first skin infection…

Which is the best location? It’s kind of moot. They’re all great and have pros and cons. Melbourne isn’t very easy to get around, so you’re likely to just train at whichever location is closest to you. I liked Collingwood’s natural light and space, I like the CBD’s climate control, and I’ll tell you what I think of St Kilda when I eventually make it over there…

One cute thing I noticed is the personal saunas in the locker rooms, present in both the CBD and Collingwood locations (not sure about St Kilda). I presume this is something to do with losing water weight. I haven’t tried one, but I know my brother would like it.

Culture at Absolute MMA

The culture of a gym is everything to me. Without good culture, I just don’t show up. I’ve learned to spot bad culture from a mile away — it just takes a single demo class to know if an instructor is terrible.

Absolute’s culture is excellent, and while not perfect, the less than perfect stuff is not negative, and more a feature of a large gym of this scale. Let’s start with the good, anyway.

The best thing I can say about Absolute MMA is that the people — coaches and participants — are great, welcoming, and eager to learn and teach. There’s an atmosphere of improving, with minimal ego (other than from the beginners, which is common). Everybody is trying to improve, and nobody is trying to hurt me.

In some classes (especially gi at the CBD) it’s customary for people to go around and greet everyone before a class. This is intimidating for shy folk (and I’m on the borderline), but I love it. Hey, it can be more intimate… in Argentina I had to kiss-hello everyone! (Yes, men too.)

I have made a lot of casual friends at Absolute, though I don’t remember all their names, which isn’t unusual for a martial arts gym. You may roll every day, but never know each other’s names! You just know “That’s that friendly blue belt guy who really likes single leg x” and so on.

Nonetheless, in my time at Collingwood and St Kilda I became familiar enough with faces just over a few months for people’s faces to light up when they see me, to know my quirks and oddities, and for us to know each other’s rough level and style.

Absolute MMA also stands out in that it’s a safe combat sports gym. Not once at Absolute have I been seriously hurt (in a way that was someone’s fault). A beginner once kneed me in the eye; no big deal (I forgot about it quickly).

At other gyms, I’ve had my teeth chipped from a kick by a panicking newbie, I’ve had a calf slicer so hard that I had to limp home (from a guy with whom I was rolling for the first time!), and I’ve had a crank so hard during a “hazing” that my neck still hurts, years later (screw that guy). None of this kind of thing happens at Absolute. This sounds like a lame compliment (as it’s the absence of a bad thing), but in combat sports, managing to remain injury and infection-free for months in a row is a very positive sign.

I also mentioned some things above when talking about the facilities of Absolute MMA. The fact that it’s clean, neat, and tidy reflects that the members and staff are happy to be there and have respect for the gym, which makes it a great place to be.

By the way, the culture at the different gyms varies quite dramatically. Even though they’re all relatively close to each other as the crow flies, I’ve found myself much more at home in the CBD location than in the Collingwood one.

I’m not sure why — it’s a mix of the culture created by the coach, the attendees, and the location (which attracts a different mix of people) combined with my own preferences. But your preferences are probably different.

This isn’t about me, so I’m just saying — don’t assume all the Absolute gyms have the same vibe. If you are near two of them, try them both out, and you might like one more.

Despite all the positives, training at Absolute MMA isn’t perfect, and below are some interesting things I noted which I wouldn’t have from the outside.

Downsides of Absolute MMA

There are some things about training at Absolute MMA that I don’t really love, and it’s worth noting them. I’m mostly writing this as I didn’t know beforehand, and people don’t mention them. (Post writing this, management at the team contacted me and thanked me for my comments… I still have to catch up with them at some point!)

I want to emphasise that these are from the point of view of a non-competitor, non-MMA athlete. I do MMA sports (grappling and striking, plus some strength training) but do it casually. If you’re a pro fighter, your experience will be different.

Firstly, Absolute MMA is big, and thus sometimes feels like a huge organisation, almost like a corporation. There are policies and procedures. Every time I email in, I get a professional-sounding response from a different person, without personal little touches like “Thank you, it was great meeting you!” But they get the job done efficiently and quickly, which is the most important thing.

If I ask for something complex — like waiving my penalty for leaving early (I flagged ahead that I was only staying in Collingwood for three months), it has to be done through their CRM and some complex stuff. I get it — you have to stay organised — but the feeling is sometimes like I’m negotiating an error on my bill with my cellphone service provider.

It’s almost like Absolute is laying the foundation for becoming Absolute Corporation Pty Ltd, a global training phenomenon. Great, sign me up as a shareholder, but it does leave me feeling cold at times.

At other gyms, on the first day, I typically meet the owner and roll and/or spar with the coaches. I know them as friends by the end. Sometimes, I’d think of them as friends on the first day. Again, I have not yet met the owner (or owners) of Absolute MMA.

Informality at small gyms does have downsides, of course! They have fewer classes, smaller facilities, and sometimes a little zaniness in procedures. You have to take the good with the bad.

On the note of meeting with coaches, secondly, I never roll or spar with the coaches at Absolute MMA. Not once, in any class. This, to me, is unusual.

In every other gym, I’ve rolled / sparred with the coaches. Of course, they go gentle on me. But the point is that they did this not just out of a way of welcoming a new guy, but to be able to give me specific pointers based on what they observed. In some gyms (like one of my favourites, Francisco Vera’s “Vera Fight Club” in Argentina), the coach became a friend of mine and rolled with me for fun.

Anyway, the fact that I haven’t trained with the coaches initially left me feeling a bit cold. I can see the logic for it, of course. By not training with me they can 1) supervise me (and others) while training with others, 2) generally supervise the class and ensure nothing crazy is going on, and 3) avoid injury (so they’re available to work more and compete sometimes). But still, I know they roll with some people sometimes, and in some classes — just not in the ones I go to, unfortunately.

The atmosphere of coaching also varies. While all the coaches are experienced, skilled, and highly knowledgable, the feeling they leave me with depends on their personality. Some of the coaches are really into coaching and have that parental coach-like vibe that I really like, of course (shout out to Ollie, who didn’t bat an eyelid when I said “Ollie, I need some life advice,” for which he gave a brilliant response).

From the more enthusiastic coaches, I get great tips from my first class. But a few of the other coaches just seem less engaged. Or maybe they take time to warm up to people — which I also understand (I’m the same way). Or heck, maybe we just didn’t vibe.

The classes randomly have coaches sub in and out, sometimes when a coach is on leave, or sometimes without any explanation. There generally is consistency, but I have the feeling I am signing up for a class at a time — not necessarily a class with a specific person.

I actually think the less intimate coaching atmosphere is a bit related to the “huge corporate organisation” aspect of Absolute MMA. Students appear for classes, and then might disappear for weeks. And coaches do too. So the effect is one of a lack of continuity.

But this is also a thing that evolved over time. After around six months at Absolute, coaches started to notice my regularity and also my absences. Once, when I disappeared for a week (I didn’t get a chance to tell them before I left that I was going to visit my family), they got worried and thought I was injured or sick. So, relationships take a bit more investment given the size of the gym and the classes.

These days, my regular coaches are Kemal Akagündüz (BJJ and sometimes wrestling), Laos Toohey (Muay Thai / Boxing) and Connor Evans (wrestling). They’re all great in different ways. In Kemal’s program I’ve noticeably improved over the last six months as he has hammered in basics amid frequent cheeky jokes. Toohey has forced me to improve my memory, stamina, and coordination… my goal being to be able to finish the combos with grace while he heckles me for wearing a sweat band and looking like an out-of-place tennis player. And Connor fundamentally rejigs my wrestling knowledge every class.

Thirdly, there’s a lot of segregation of levels at Absolute MMA.

In jiu jitsu, for example, there’s

• Beginner/Intro
• Level 1+
• Level 2+
• Level 3+
• Jiu jitsu Competitors only
• MMA Fighters only (some overlap with “Competitors only)

There’s a similar breakdown in Boxing / Muay Thai. I forget the exact definitions. But it is clearest between beginner (which is very beginner, though a good chance to revisit fundamentals or practise things I’m working on), and competitor/fighter classes, which I can’t even attend.

I mostly go to “Level 1+” classes. This includes people who I’d definitely call beginners (they have 50+ hours of experience but they are fairly easy to control) all the way to the occasional person with 5+ years experience and some kind of coloured belt in grappling (though in no gi nobody has a belt, so I have no idea). Of course, you can tell someone’s experience level pretty quickly just from the way they move. Over time, I have figured out who the more advanced people are.

The spread of skill levels in a “Level 1+” class depends on the location and even the time of day. For example, in Collingwood in the morning Level 1 class, most people are young people, men, and relative beginners. There’re a few people with a couple of years of experience, and then one or two with five years or more.

However, at the CBD in the same “Level 1+” class, most of the attendees are upper belts — there are very few beginners, and sometimes none at all! There are also more women. So it’s worth showing up to a few classes with a coach or at a time to figure out the vibe.

But it’s notable that in the classes I go to, I almost never roll or train with competitors or fighters. They have their own times.

Spending time with people at one’s own level (give or take) has pros and cons. On the one hand, I have more space to work on my techniques. Actually, at other gyms (like Inferno in Istanbul), I got demolished so often that I rarely had room to work, and just built a defensive game. So I welcomed the opportunity to train with people closer to my own level.

But also, at Absolute, I rarely experience the total domination that comes from training with pros. I don’t say that I want this from pure masochism. When people throw you around like a ragdoll in a controlled manner, it’s inspiring. It’s super cool for someone to do an awesome judo throw on you (or is it just me?).

I got to see, at other gyms, what a good drop seoi nage, a versatile lockdown guard, or a calf slicer feel like. Those are things that specialists do. At Absolute, with the motley crew of rag-tag grapplers I typically train with, I don’t experience that level of total domination in every class.

I do occasionally train with the pros. But they just take it easy on me and show me stuff. Which is fine — whatever helps them, too (everyone needs a break, or to practise basics).

Technology at Absolute

Most gyms I’ve been to would be lucky to have a web page, let alone one that’s up to date. Small and even medium-sized survive on an Instagram or Facebook account and a lot of informal communication through group chats.

Absolute MMA has great — though not perfect — technology. There’s an up-to-date calendar for all locations on the app. It’s so well-maintained that when a class is cancelled, it’s removed from the calendar. And the trainer listed is always the correct one — I suspect this is also how they manage their internal payroll.

There’s an app through which you can book classes, though you never need to book (they have an absurd number of spaces and are never even half full) so nobody does. You technically do have to scan your bar code (in the app as well as on a key chain card they give you at sign-up) when you go in, but I rarely did for morning classes.

However, when a class is cancelled or amended — e.g. a trainer goes on leave — the students aren’t proactively notified in any way. One day, one of my coaches told us he wouldn’t be coming the next day, so the class was cancelled. If he hadn’t told me this, I would have shown up. There’s a Facebook group but it’s used mostly for major announcements.

Other gyms use things like WhatsApp groups or their socials to notify of changes to the calendar. But I think it would be within Absolute MMA’s means to modify the app to allow for notifications regarding schedule changes. I wonder if it’s in their development pipeline.

Finally, one incidental part of training at Absolute MMA is Submeta (this is my review). Submeta is a high-end online curriculum/instructional series on a broad range of jiu jitsu stuff, including gi and no gi. It’s great.

I knew the two things were related, but I didn’t know until recently that Submeta is included in membership at Absolute! (I previously wrote that it wasn’t.) So I paid around US$150 in fees for Submeta before I found out. They’re reworking their onboarding process to correct this, thankfully.

There are application frameworks built on CRMs that would be ideal for Absolute (and that are quite cheap), but I don’t know if this is a priority for them.

Training Costs and Timetable at Absolute MMA

There are a few things to know about training costs at Absolute MMA.

1. There are two tiers of pricing. In 2024, these are A$60 per week (~$260 per month) for training at one location, or A$65 per week (~$280 per month) for multiple. These are for unlimited classes.
2. There’s a minimum commitment of 6-months and a $100 break fee.
3. Sign-up gets you $100 in credits to buy fight gear from the Absolute-owned brand, MA1 Combat (which Lachlan Giles and Craig Jones promote a lot), which should get you some starter gear.

Wow, all of that is quite expensive! It’s roughly on par with other high-end gyms in Australia, like an inner-city F45 gym or Crossfit box. But it’s more than I’ve paid for training at most gyms in the world, even in Europe or the US. For example, in recent history, I paid US$160 (about A$240) per month to train at 10th Planet in LA — and this is one of the pricier gyms I’ve been to, with an even more solid reputation than Absolute’s. Of course, the facilities were simpler, and they just do grappling… but man, do they grapple!

As for the timetable — see it online. But the most important things I want to mention are

• There are tons of classes, including lots of morning and midday options, which I love. This is one of those benefits of huge gyms! You can train in strength, jiu jitsu, and/or boxing every morning (though not every class is on every morning). There are even more options if you’re a competitor.
• Most classes are 1 hour, and some are only 45 minutes. If you’re like me and prefer to train for longer (1h30 is my sweet spot) you may find this slightly annoying. I’m not sure why it is, probably a mixture of the preferences of other students as well as staff costs (because Australia).
• In some gyms, there are classes back to back. But it may not always be the pair of things you want to do.

Wrap up

I really am enjoying my time at Absolute MMA. I now consider it my home gym.

I think the most important thing, which I should say first, is that you’d be remiss not to train at Absolute if you live in Melbourne and if it’s vaguely practical. Even though it takes longer to build relationships at Absolute, I think it’s worth the investment of time.

As my partner said to me when I was considering moving gyms after moving house: “You live 40 minutes door-to-door from one of the most well-known gyms in the world… Why would you look for a local one?” She was right, of course. Why go to some other college for convenience when you could train at an Ivy League institution in your city?

But that said, my initial time at Absolute didn’t immediately grab me by the heartstrings in like other gyms did.

There have been gyms I’ve been to where on day one I’ve built a friendly relationship with the coach and owner. These are typically small gyms with just one coach (who’s the owner). That coach often has a pedagogical style and a passion for teaching that’s infectious.

Absolute MMA trains everyone from kids and total beginners through to MMA competitors — with one member competing professionally in the UFC. That’s a huge range. I know that the contenders really enjoy their time at Absolute and know it to be one of the best gyms in the world.

But I’m a non-contender. I’m not even a competitor, as I mentioned above (I get enough competition by moving gyms a lot). I just want to learn new stuff, improve in an awesome sport, and meet new people, making friends as I go. I prefer the atmosphere of small community gyms where I get to know everyone — including the owners — quite quickly. It takes longer to build that kind of feeling at a big gym like Absolute.

For me, training in combat sports isn’t just about the skills and fitness, but also about the camaraderie. For example, after three months at Absolute Collingwood, I vaguely learned about five people’s names and have contact details (the Instagram, anyway) for one of them. That’s not much! After a few months at other gyms, I have stayed in the WhatsApp groups forever (just for the bants!) and think of the members as good friends.

So train at Absolute. You may not get that “small gym” vibe right away. But the investment of time is worth it.

I’m loving my time at the CBD. I’ll drop in again at Collingwood. And when I spend some time in St Kilda, I’ll update this.