Built for serious coaches in combat sports
Become a Performance Director in 8 weeks. Certified by Dean Amasinger in the FMA™ Methodology.
The performance methodology developed by Dean Amasinger (former UFC Technical Director at the UFC PI Shanghai). Soon available to coaches, gyms, and organizations worldwide.
100+ combat sports athletes coached
Built for serious coaches in combat sports
8-week Mentorship for the next generation of Performance Directors. Led by Dean Amasinger.
The performance methodology developed by Dean Amasinger (former UFC Technical Director at the UFC PI Shanghai). Soon available to coaches, gyms, and organizations worldwide.
100+ combat sports athletes coached
Built for serious coaches in combat sports
The 8-week FMA™ Performance Director certification. mentored directly by Dean Amasinger.
The performance methodology developed by Dean Amasinger (former UFC Technical Director at the UFC PI Shanghai). Soon available to coaches, gyms, and organizations worldwide.
100+ combat sports athletes coached
Built for serious coaches in combat sports
Become one of the first coaches certified in the FMA™ methodology
used with elite combat athletes.
The performance methodology developed by Dean Amasinger (former UFC Technical Director at the UFC PI Shanghai). Soon available to coaches, gyms, and organizations worldwide.
100+ combat sports athletes coached
Fighter, martial artist & athlete
What is the FMA™ system?
The FMA-Model™is the framework Dean Amasinger developed and refined over five years as Technical Director of the UFC Performance Institute Shanghai. It was built and tested on real athletes — academy fighters at intake, professionals preparing for UFC events, international athletes from rugby, taekwondo, and Olympic programs who came through the institute for camps. It is not theoretical. It is the operating system of a working performance institute, written down.
from S&C Coach to Performance Director
The 8-week FMA™ Pathway
1
Week 1: Introduction to the FMA™ Model
The coach is introduced to a holistic, systematic framework for preparing an MMA athlete across all qualities (physical, technical, tactical, recovery, lifestyle). The week establishes the why behind a unifying model in a sport that lacks one, and gives the coach a scaffold to build their own structure on top of.
2
week 2: Leadership
Leadership is the pivotal capability that separates an Performance Director from a S&C coach. Before you can align other coaches, you need to lead. This week covers leadership strategies and styles relevant to a combat sports environment, defining personal and team values, organisational structure, creating a narrative and sense of purpose around the team's mission, and building inclusion so every coach and athlete feels ownership of the plan.
3
week 3: Coach alignment
With leadership established, the coach now applies it to the single biggest dysfunction in MMA performance: coaches not aligned on periodisation, every coach wanting 100% intensity in their session, no shared communication pathways. Positions the S&C coach as the natural performance director and equips them with the workflows, meeting cadences, shared planning tools, and communication structures to align the team around one plan.
4
Week 4: Periodisation for Combat Sports
The combined periodisation week. Covers training load management and timetable optimisation across the week, and goes deeper on how S&C programming integrates concurrently with striking, grappling, wrestling, and sparring across the different phases of preparation (general prep, specific prep, fight camp, taper). Addresses interference, compatibility, and sequencing across disciplines so that S&C complements rather than competes with technical work.
5
Week 5: Prehabilitation
Identifies the high-risk areas in MMA (neck, shoulders, lower back, knees, hips, etc.) and builds prehab strategies into the program by default. Covers training modifications and return-to-play decision-making for managing injuries that occur during fight camp without derailing it.
6
Week 6: Fight Camp Structure and Peaking
Detailed fight camp programming: how the camp is structured week by week, the role S&C plays at each stage, MMA-specific conditioning strategies and plans, and detailed fight week and fight day sessions designed to peak the fighter.
7
Week 7: Recovery
Session-specific and periodised recovery strategies, matching recovery modalities to the type of stress imposed, rather than applying generic protocols. Includes breath work strategies for both recovery and visualisation.
8
Week 8: Real-World Implementation
Synthesis week. The coach takes everything from Weeks 1–7 and assembles it into their own operating system as a performance director: the FMA model applied, leadership identity established, alignment workflows installed, periodised plan built, prehab and recovery layers integrated, fight camp templated.
fma™ combat coach certification
who is this certification for
For Coaches
Learn the system Dean built and refined over five years inside the UFC Performance Institute. The FMA™ Model gives you a complete framework for combat sports performance — programming, periodization, load management — applied to fighters, not adapted from other sports.
For Gyms & Facilities
Bring elite-level performance support into your gym. Certified coaches share a common methodology and language, meaning every fighter — from first amateur fight to UFC main event — is prepared to the same proven standard.
For Organizations & Federations
Adopt the methodology developed inside one of the world's two UFC Performance Institutes. The FMA™ Model gives federations and combat sports organizations a unified system for athlete development that scales across programs and weight classes.
the application process
Spots on the FMA™ Combat Coach Certification are limited and offered through a short application process. This ensures every coach accepted is the right fit for the cohort and gets the most out of the mentorship.
step 1
Join the waitlist
Add your name to the waitlist to register your interest. You'll receive full course details, dates, and the formal application form ahead of public release, giving you time to prepare before places open.
step 2
application call
Shortlisted applicants are invited to a short call with our team. We'll discuss your coaching background, what you're looking to get from the certification, and answer any questions — making sure the course is the right fit for you.
step 3
confirmation
Successful applicants receive confirmation of their place along with onboarding details, course materials, and start dates. From there, you're set to begin the certification with Dean Amasinger and the rest of your cohort.
dean amasinger
Leadership in elite sports
Dean Amasinger has spent the last twenty years inside elite sport — first as a professional fighter on The Ultimate Fighter, then as the architect behind one of only two UFC Performance Institutes in the world. He has trained UFC champions, prepared Olympic athletes, and built the system that turns raw talent into fight-ready professionals. The FMA Model is the distillation of that work.
Dean Amasinger
Founder FMA Performance
Ex-Ufc PI Technical Director
Join the founding waitlist
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Trusted at the Top of the Sport
15 YEARS OF TRUST
Dean has been an instrumental part of my MMA career. He's been helping me for over 15 years, and I always feel confident going into fights knowing he's been guiding me through these hard camps. A full wealth of knowledge, deeply experienced, and a great person to work with.
Brendan Loughnane
PFL World Champion
DEAN UNDERSTANDS WHAT IT TAKES
I've worked with Dean through some of the biggest moments of my UFC career. From fight camps to nutrition, recovery, and weight cutting. He brought a level of professionalism that gave me complete confidence going into every fight. At the elite level, every percent matters, and Dean understood exactly what it takes.
Ross Pearson
UFC Veteran & TUF 9 Winner
A WORLD CLASS PRACTITIONER
What sets Dean apart is his ability to design holistic training programs from the ground up. He layers every facet of performance in a way that delivers optimal results for athletes and teams. My understanding of how to structure training grew exponentially while working with him. Dean is truely a world-class practitioner.
Dr Dean Ritchie
Head of Performance Sciences, UFC PI Shanghai
fma™ combat coach certification
THE EMERGING OPERATING SYSTEM FOR COMBAT SPORTS PERFORMANCE.
The next decade of combat sports performance will belong to coaches who understand that fighters cannot be developed with systems borrowed from field sports, bodybuilding, or generic athletic preparation. As MMA continues to professionalize, organizations, gyms, and elite athletes are demanding a higher standard — one built specifically for the realities of combat.
Dean Amasinger’s FMA™ Model was developed through years inside the UFC Performance Institute to meet that need: an integrated framework built around the Fighter, the Martial Artist, and the Athlete. Coaches who understand this system early will not only coach with greater clarity and precision — they will help shape the future standard of combat sports performance itself.
Frequently asked questions
Highlighting your strengths is important. Let's offer potential customers a clear view of what sets you apart from the competition.
are the spots limited?
Is this only for strength coaches?
Is this intended to become a long-term standard in combat sports performance?
Why join the waitlist now instead of waiting for launch?