UFC Gym Adds In-Club Longevity Clinics Featuring GLP-1s, Peptides

The new partnership with NexGen MD will give members access to longevity clinics inside UFC Gym locations, marking a new chapter in the burgeoning gym-as-a-clinic movement

UFC Gym and longevity medicine company NexGen MD Scientific have announced a joint venture that will place clinics inside UFC Gym locations, giving members access to GLP-1s, hormone replacement therapies and peptides alongside their usual training programming.

The deal launches with two flagship clinic locations in Torrance and Corona, California, opening in May. A full rollout is planned across the UFC Gym network over the next two years. 

The global fitness franchise — an official extension of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — currently has more than 200 open locations with 700 additional locations in development globally.

Mark Mastrov, who is credited with helping scale the MMA-style training concept and recently reacquired 24 Hour Fitness following a 2005 sale, says the move reflects the future of premium fitness.

“Members expect more than just equipment and classes,” Mastrov said. “They expect access to the most effective tools for optimizing their health. NexGen provides that access with the clinical rigor and product quality our members demand.”

It’s a sentiment that UFC Gym CEO Adam Sedlack shared earlier this year.

“Legacy gyms sell access, while modern consumers buy desired outcomes,” Sedlack said. “Traditional models are still rooted in a transactional mindset — focused on enrollment volume with very little relationship to what happens after someone joins.”

The partnership with NextGen, he said, represents UFC Gym’s investment in tools to help members optimize their health and elevate their overall performance.

UFC Gym is hardly alone in sensing the opportunity of weight loss medications and other longevity therapies by adopting the gym-as-clinic model.

Luxury operator Life Time launched its Miora Performance and Longevity Clinic in late 2023, offering GLP-1s, peptides and hormone therapy and has since expanded the concept beyond its flagship Minneapolis location.

Some smaller operators are coming on board, as well. Dallas-based Recess Fitness, a single-location independent gym, launched RecessRx, offering members GLP-1s, hormone therapy, peptides and 24/7 access to a board-certified physician.

Even the high-value, low-price end of the market is circling. Planet Fitness CEO Colleen Keating told investors this week on the company’s Q4 earnings call that roughly half of people taking GLP-1 medications consider a gym membership. The gym giant has launched a member “Perks” partnership with telehealth platform Ro, which offers GLP-1 prescriptions, calling it the most successful program in the company’s history. 

“For the GLP-1 user, we are perfectly positioned to meet that customer,” Keating said.