Greg Jackson and the 15 Best Coaches in MMA

Behind every great fighter is a great coach. They're the masterminds that put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, create the best training sessions and make sure to get the most out of their fighters.

Coaching in MMA is just like being a coach in the team leagues. They still must create perfect game plans for each fighter like an NFL coach does each week. They have to deal with some massive egos on a daily basis like a MLB manager.

They also need to make sure their role players in the gym receive equal opportunity, like how a NBA coach manages game minutes.

Some of the coaches on this list are more vocal than others while some prefer to remain hidden in the shadows to allow the limelight to be focused on the fighter. Every one of them have different qualities that separate them from the rest of the field and are all great in their own right.

Howard Davis Jr.

Howard Davis Jr. has gone from being an Olympic gold medalist boxer to one of the top boxing coaches in the United States.

Davis won a gold medal in the 1974 World Amateur Games in Cuba and followed that up with another gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games. During his Olympic tenure, Davis was awarded the prestigious Val Barker award over such big-name boxers like "Sugar" Ray Leonard and Michael and Leon Spinks.

After retiring from competition in 1996, Davis began to transition into coaching MMA fighters in 2009 when he signed up with American Top Team in Florida. Davis has worked with many of the top products of ATT along with UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell.

Duke Roufus

Duke Roufus has taken a successful kickboxing career and transitioned it into a very successful MMA gym. His gym, Roufusport, is one of the top gyms in the Midwest.

Roufus can lay claim to coaching notable fighters like Pat Barry, Anthony Pettis and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren.

With many of his best fighters still in their prime or yet to even reach their full potential, look for Roufusport to become the modern Miletich Fighting System.

Erik Paulson/Greg Nelson

The two men behind Minnesota's most successful MMA camp, Erik Paulson and Greg Nelson, have become two of the premier coaches in MMA.

Paulson resides in California but still maintains close ties with The Academy. Nelson used his wrestling knowledge combined with his muay-Thai training to create a very successful MMA gym.

Paulson and Nelson have coached some great fighters like Brock Lesnar, Sean Sherk and Josh Barnett.

Firas Zahabi

If Greg Jackson is the coach who gives his fighters the perfect game plan, Firas Zahabi is the coach who gives them the talent to complete the game plans.

Zahabi, the man behind Georges St-Pierre's reign in the welterweight division has created one of the best gyms in all of Canada, TriStar gym.

He and Jackson have a mutual partnership where fighters will travel back and forth to receive different training techniques. Keeping one of the premier fighters like St-Pierre from being bored and plateauing is no easy task, but Zahabi has it down to a science.

Mark DellaGrotte

One of the top muay-Thai instructors in the world, Mark DellaGrotte has turned Team Sityodtong into one of the best gyms in the nation.

DellaGrotte learned his trade under numerous coaches, most notably, Kru Yodtong. DellaGrotte became Yodtong's American representative to continue teaching the muay-Thai style of fighting.

Some fighters that have sought DellaGrotte's training are Kenny Florian, Frank Mir and Stephan Bonnar.

Dave Camarillo

Dave Camarillo is renowned as one of the best grappling coaches in MMA. Growing up with a family dedicated to the art of judo, Camarillo decided to venture into Brazilian jiu-jitsu after watching Royce Gracie in the early days of the UFC.

Camarillo has worked with great coaches like Cesar Gracie and the staff at AKA. He's helped elite level wrestlers like Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Cain Velasquez turn into prominent MMA fighters.

Recently, Camarillo has severed ties with AKA but will continue to coach.

The Nogueira Brothers

The Nogueira brothers may not be done fighting but with the current roster of students, they could definitely transition into coaching full-time at any moment.

Both men are accomplished martial artists in not only Brazilian jiu-jitsu but also boxing as well. Working primarily with Team Blackhouse and Team Nogueira, the two brothers have helped create some world-class athletes.

The Nogueira brothers have trained the likes of Junior dos Santos, Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida.

Cesar Gracie

Cesar Gracie effectively owned the divisions in Strikeforce. Jake Shields, Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez were/are Strikeforce champions.

Gracie is not only one of the best coaches in the game, he's also one of the most vocal. It's nice to have a coach come out and say how he honestly feels. It allows fans to have an inside look into the world behind the scenes.

Look for Gracie to add another champion to its ranks when Nate Diaz could possibly challenge for the UFC lightweight title by the end of 2012.

Javier Mendez

A great kickboxer in his own right, Javier Mendez founded American Kickboxing Academy in the 1980s. Since its inception, AKA along with Mendez has been acknowledged as one of the true founding pillars of MMA.

Mendez, along with coaches Bob Cook and Dave Camarillo, has transformed a number of high level wrestlers into world-class fighters. Cain Velasquez, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Mike Swick are all regarded as top 10 talents who owe a lot of their skills to Mendez's training.

The trainer has come under recent scrutiny from a departing Koscheck but with Mendez's coaching ability, look for AKA to simply move on, rebuild and reload.

Renzo Gracie

His MMA career over, Renzo Gracie can take pride in knowing that the future of MMA will likely have very close ties with his coaching.

Gracie currently holds the rank of sixth degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu along with a black belt in judo. The grandnephew of Helio Gracie has taken his Manhattan-based school and spread affiliates across numerous countries.

Fighters like Georges St-Pierre, Frankie Edgar and Ricardo Almeida have grappled across the mats at Gracie's school.

Lloyd Irvin

Primarily known as a jiu-jitsu instructor, Lloyd Irvin is quickly making a name for himself through the fighters at The Alliance training facility.

Fighters like Phil Davis, Brandon Vera, and UFC champion Dominick Cruz can all lay claim to receiving some of the best instruction from Irvin.

Aside from his credentials as a coach, Irvin also has some of the best credentials as a competitor as well. Irvin is a seventh-degree black belt in Thai jitsu, first-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, fifth-degree black belt in combat sambo, and a first-degree black belt in judo.

Greg Jackson

The ultimate game-planner, Greg Jackson is an X's and O's kind of guy.

In 1992, Jackson founded his own martial art, Gaidojutsu. The martial art combines numerous techniques from wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and kickboxing, among others.

Some of the more notable fighters to compete under the Jackson's MMA banner are Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Carlos Condit, Clay Guida and Shane Carwin.

With such a talented stable of fighters, fans would be hard-pressed to find a collection of talent this great under one roof.

Ricardo Liborio

Widely regarded as one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu coaches in the world, Ricardo Liborio turned a bad situation into a good one.

After his relationship with the Carlson Gracie team turned sour, Liborio headed to the Brazilian Top Team. It was there that he was able to create a name for himself as a coach while making BTT into one of the premier gyms not only in Brazil, but the world.

Eventually Liborio moved to Florida and decided to settle down. Liborio severed ties with BTT and created the American Top Team.

The ATT has become a successful franchise that has produced stars like Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves and Mike Brown.

Andre Pederneiras

Andre Pederneiras helped transform one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu gyms into one of the top MMA gyms.

Nova Uniao had always been known as a great BJJ gym. The facility had produced grappling stars like Robson Moura and BJ Penn.

Pederneiras has also produced two of the world's best featherweights in Jose Aldo and Marlon Sandro.

Even though Aldo is considered his top student, the future looks very bright as the potentially great up-and-coming fighters will carry Nova Uniao into the next decade.

Rafael Cordeiro

One of the real legends of MMA coaching, Rafael Cordeiro has produced a handful of MMA champions. The former Chute Boxe fighter and coach helped make the gym one of the best in the world during his tenure.

After leaving Chute Boxe in 2009, Cordeiro moved to the United States and set up Kings MMA, where he teaches many of his former students.

Cordeiro helped make Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio Rua, Anderson Silva, and Fabricio Werdum into the stars they are today.

Besides working with these great athletes, Cordeiro is instilling his teaching into the new blood of MMA like Mark Munoz.