On any given day at 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu the room is filled with loud music, athletes moving around the mat and the sound of drills being practiced over and over.

Fighters dance across the mat. Coaches call out advice from the side. Students work through positions and techniques round after round trying to get a leg up on their training partner

10th Planet is located at 4070 Chino Hills Parkway, surrounded by calm suburban neighborhoods and shopping centers. The calmness from the outside is nowhere to be seen inside of the gym.

The gym is led by coach Jeff Willingham, who has been around long enough to talk about combat sports directly without any romance.

“I’ve been coaching probably about 15 years now, man,” Willingham said. “Maybe more, but really, really coaching, probably about 15 years.”

According to the official 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu website, Willingham started grappling in 2000 joining 10P Corona in 2011. Over the years he has fought in official MMA fights, earned his black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and started coaching.

But when Willingham talks about 10P, he doesn’t talk about success in the octagon or victories on the mat. He talks about the community that has been built.

“I like it, man. I enjoy helping people,” Willingham said. “I like coaching people.”

Inside the room

The gym itself is meant to teach you how to fight, but not everyone that comes through the doors wants to be fighters. Many members come after work to get a workout in. Others train to gain some confidence or learn some self defence. Willingham spoke about how only a small part of the gym actively competes.

“Out of the whole entire gym, man, only about 10 or 11 people compete honestly,” Willingham said. “So we only have four fighters, and it’s just cool to give back to something that helped me out my whole life, really.”

Everyone goes through the same drills and trains with the same group of people but not everyone has the same goal. At the end of you get what you put out. For some just making it through a tough class can really give a sense of accomplishment while others strive for competitive wins.

For those that want to fight Willingham kept his answer direct and as blunt as possible

“If you really want to fight and you don’t know anything, it’s gonna take two years,” Willingham said. “It’s gonna be really hard, and one day, you’re gonna have to leave here.”

Willingham emphasizes that cross training is important and finding a place where you can get better encouragement if you want to reach your fighting goals.

The fighters

For Kamren Raleigh, who has been actively fighting for two and a half years, the work is about staying ready even when fights fall out or plans change. Raleigh recently went through a full fight camp just to find out his opponent pulled out of the fight less than a day before the bout was set to happen. For a fighter, that means weeks of suffering through weighcuts, hard training and hours away from your family for basically no pay off.

“I’m really just looking for the next opportunity,” Raleigh said. “Just staying ready, staying active. Make sure all this work doesn’t get wasted.”

Raleigh said that fighting changed him and gave him more confidence.

“I definitely have more belief in myself … than I ever have before,” Raleigh said.

Daniel Griego is another fighter at 10P that has been training after work for about seven years. He has just started fighting a couple months ago earning a knockout in his last bout and explaining that fighting has changed his life.

“Fighting’s done everything for my life,” Griego said. “I’ve met my wife through jiu-jitsu. I have my kid because of it.”

Griego said the sport changed how he looks at his day to day actions and how he carries himself as a man.

“I have a different type of confidence, but also a different type of humbleness,” Griego said. “I’m not cocky. I’m not trying to pick problems.”

In his last fight, Griego said the plan was simple. His team watched film on his opponent and noticed a flaw in his game, he often left his lead leg open to attack. The game plan was to attack that leg, forcing Griego’s opponent to change his approach.

“We watched the guy’s footage,” Griego said. “He leaves his lead leg out. So the game plan was to chop out his leg until he wanted to throw hands.”

The plan worked and his opponent eventually played into his hands and went for a takedown, which allowed Griego to finish the fight.

“We got the sub, and it was spot on how we’ve been training it in camp,” Griego said.

That is the part of fighting people outside the gym might not see, the finish can look sudden or random but in reality it was part of a plan. The work behind the scenes are fighters studying film, and drilling out mistakes to fight the perfect fight. Even with his highlight finish Griego said that fighting is not something easy or glamorous.

“You don’t play fight,” Griego said. “You can’t do it for the image.”

He said that the photos and flashy finishes may look cool but it’s a hard sport with real consequences. People get hurt, they lose fights, and they spend time doubting themselves.

“This is real, bro,” Griego said. “You could get hurt.”

For coach Willingham that risk is what makes the sport so honest, a fight does not always show what kind of person someone is, but it shows who they are when the pressure gets intense.

“You got caught in a submission, you can’t BS your way out of it,” Willingham said. “Everybody saw it.’

At 10th Planet Chino Hills MMA is not presented as clean or easy. It’s shown as difficult, unforgiving and physical at all times. But for the people showing up that is why they call it the best sport in the world. The mentality of hobbyists and beginners along with the more advanced fighters is the same: do the work and keep showing up.

“I think it’s like the last pure art form that we have,” Willingham said.

A correction to the story was made June 6, 2026 at 12:30 a.m. to correct the spelling of Kamren Raleigh.