Tammi Musumeci

Tammi Musumeci is probably the best American BJJ competitor ever – a reputation she’s earned over the course of her near-decade career as an elite black belt. And to the delight of submission grappling fans around the world, she’s just getting started. 

Inspired by her father’s own practice in the grappling arts, the New Jersey native started jiu-jitsu at the age of 6 alongside her brother, inaugural ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci. Both of the Musumeci children took to the sport quickly and were soon competing on the local circuit. For Tammi, that meant competing almost exclusively against the boys, something she credits as the key to her rapid development. 

When she was 13 years old, the Musumeci family moved to Florida where Tammi began to train and compete more seriously, adding additional drilling sessions with her brother outside of regular practice. Even with her demanding training schedule and competition success through her teenage years, Tammi excelled in school, taking equally demanding advanced classes whenever she could. 

In 2013, the young phenom received her BJJ black belt and, less than a year later, captured gold at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championships, immediately establishing herself as a force on the elite scene. Her winning didn’t stop there, however. She used her well-rounded, aggressive, yet technically refined game to capture four more IBJJF World Championships, the most recent of which was in 2022.

Astonishingly, the jiu-jitsu prodigy never once took a break from school or work during this incredible stretch of success at the highest level. In fact, in 2020, she graduated from law school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and now practices law full-time. 

What’s more, Tammi has maintained a close relationship with her earliest and longest training partner, her brother Mikey. “Darth Rigatoni” regularly credits his sister as instrumental in his meteoric rise to the top of the submission grappling world. Likewise, Tammi says Mikey has been the most important teacher on her way to greatness. 

In early 2023, Tammi joined her brother in the world’s largest martial arts organization, where she will continue to test her entertaining brand of jiu-jitsu against the best of the best.