Forged in Toms River.
Iron Army Academy is what a hometown gets when its world champion comes home to build one room, one standard, one team.
"I was always the smaller guy. So I had to be the tougher one."
Frankie "The Answer" Edgar started wrestling at 13 in this same town. He became a 4x Division I All-American, and on April 10, 2010, the underdog beat BJ Penn to become UFC Lightweight Champion of the World.
He defended the title through wars with Gray Maynard and Charles Oliveira, earned a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Ricardo Almeida, and walked into the UFC Hall of Fame without ever leaving New Jersey behind.
Iron Army Academy is the next chapter: a room in Toms River where kids and adults train under the same standard that built a champion: real technique, honest coaching, and progress that's earned.
The five pillars.
Discipline
Show up, bow in, do the work. Rank here is earned through consistency; nothing is handed out, and that's exactly why it matters.
Respect
For your coaches, your partners, and the room. It's trained into every class, and it follows our students out the door: to school, to work, to home.
Heart
The smaller guy becomes the tougher one. Effort beats talent here, and the room rewards the people who keep showing up.
Technique
Real Jiu-Jitsu, real Muay Thai, real wrestling, taught with the precision of a black-belt lineage and a champion's attention to detail.
Family
Kids on Mat 1, parents on Mat 2, one team under one roof. The Army looks after its own.
Inside the academy.
Free first class · No commitment
Your first class is free.
Come train one class on us. If it's a fit, the $99 starter month gets you unlimited training plus gear. Then you decide.