The Shintaro Higashi Show - Interview with Tammi Musumeci

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

Tammi Musumeci is one of the most decorated BJJ competitors with multiple World Championship wins under her belt. In this episode, Tammi talks about how she started BJJ, how she's managed to keep up with both BJJ and her career as a lawyer, and her upcoming fight with Amanda 'Tubby' Alequin at ONE Fight Night 12 on July 14, 2023. Join our Discord server and start chatting with us and other grapplers by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show. Any amount helps!

Hello, welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show with Peter Yu. Today we have a very special guest, Tammy Musumechi. She's a multiple-time world champion at every belt level, right? So that means white belt, blue belt, purple belt, brown belt, black belt. You won the world at every single level. Is that right, Tammy? Not white, but every other belt. Okay, all right.

The ones that matter, right? Blue and above. Okay, so that's amazing. So how does that feel, being that accomplished? It feels pretty cool. It feels like, um, that was important for my brother and I to try to win at every belt level because I felt like we accomplished what we needed to at that belt level, you know?

That's what I felt like was something that was more of a goal, like a personal goal. So it was pretty good. Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. What an accomplishment, you know, winning the worlds at any level is very very difficult so that's incredible so let's start the interview off with the question uh about your family life because you come from a family of grapplers correct yeah and it all starts with your father who was a

grappler yes he um so he grew up boxing and And then when he moved to New Jersey, when we lived in New Jersey, when we were born, when he moved to New Jersey, he started doing Muay Thai kickboxing and jiu-jitsu. So that's how he got into it as well. Oh, nice, nice, nice. So as a kid, like he took you to the jiu-jitsu school and this is what you're going to do? Or was it like sort of a part-time hobby, like. So as a kid, like, he took you to the jiu-jitsu school, and, all right, this is what you're going to do? Or was it, like, sort of a part-time hobby, like, once or twice a week thing? Like, tell us about your jiu-jitsu journey. Okay, so my dad started training when we were really, really young.

So at first, it started off as he would go to the gym, and he would watch him. But then my brother and I wanted to do it. So then my parents signed us up as I'd say until we were around like till Mikey was probably around 10 11 and I was around like more 12 13 that's when he started doing it more than like just an after-school activity nice so did you feel like you had a knack for it right off the bat like Like, oh man, I'm so good at this thing. Like no one could touch me in the class. I'm smoking everyone. Or was it something that you had to work hard at? Or like, tell us a little bit about your initial perception of the jujitsu and the sport. So I think like, um, it definitely wasn't like

one of those, oh, I'm definitely, you know, naturally gifted gifted I'm doing great I definitely had to work hard at it I felt though that it was kind of it's interesting like even you'll see like nowadays with even the juvenile kids going up to adult the when you're a kid doing it from really young I feel like it gives you the benefit because you're competing for a lot of years and also like especially when you reach your teenage years the kids are really good so there was like a time though when before I was like juvenile like I never fought juvenile but like a teenager to like starting to fight blue ball adult that I could see how like the years of experience do help you know but I definitely wasn't a natural at it I'd say from the beginning I had to kind of find my way in it too to see what would work for me like when I was 12 I remember I

would start running and doing other you know exercise to realize oh if I do this it will help my jiu-jitsu so yeah so when you were growing up right were you any part of you like oh all my friends are doing soccer or like field hockey like maybe maybe I want to do that. Like were you ever pulled to another sport? Because I know a lot of teenagers lose, you know, to like some of the more mainstream sports and after school activities when they're grapplers. You know, did you have any of that? So thankfully, when we were growing up, like I said, until, you know, we were teenagers, it's still it was more of an after-school activity. So we did get to experience playing all different sports. What did you play?

Soccer, I remember playing. I played basketball, but I was actually really good at softball, which is pretty cool. Nice. What position did you play? Catcher. Oh, that's a cool one. So that's good for your legs. You need mobility.

You need to be explosive off the pitch. That's a good... That that's good for your legs you need mobility yeah you need to be explosive off the pitch so that's a good that's like kind of go to jiu-jitsu it's kind of like jiu-jitsu right kind of i feel like i kind of yeah it's cool because i remember i was like the only one like for example on my team when i played when i was able to sit in that position because of jiu-jitsu yes yes and you know you and your brother are known to be very mobile people, right? So you guys have... Well, Mikey's mobile. I'm built more like a heavyweight guy, but in a small girl body. I'm not that mobile, but... All right. So what happened after, like, when you started taking it seriously?

Like, you guys moved to Florida? Yeah. So I think that's played a big role in, like, our training. Because when we lived in New Jersey, we were still living kind of like, you know, we were living, we were doing afterschool activities and different, different, I mean, we were still doing to Jitsu and stuff, but we were, had other stuff going on. When we moved to Florida, it was a new place with new people. So I felt like to Jitsu was the one thing that kind of stayed consistent. So we kind of both took to that. Nice. How old were you when you got into Jiu-Jitsu? So I was 13. Okay. Yeah. And your brother's a year or two younger than you? Yeah, he's two years. So

he was 11. Okay. So for those of you who don't know and, you know, doesn't watch grappling, like Mikey Musumechi is one of the champions right now on one ufc card right the one fc card and he's a great grappa as well right um so did you used to beat on your brother a little bit when you guys were kids oh yeah i used to a lot until he uh because i was bigger you know yeah then um once he got bigger that kind of that that ended no all right so you're in florida now you're training um how did it progress like what happened like uh give me some things in your personal progression there right i know like you know down the line you became a lawyer you have a full-blown career like how did that all fall into place like talk more about that you're like like teenage years. Okay. Let's grapple up. So when we moved to Florida, we started training under Gracie Baja,

under instructor Marcelo Zivero. And I felt like that was a really cool experience because he was kind of one of the first times he's really just someone that was like super, super technical, you know? Like his emphasis on technique was really cool but also besides that he was very into the kids program and he would he kind of I think started us with you know doing workouts and like how to complement jiu-jitsu in that way so that was nice then we started training under on the other side and that

like also took it to a new level because he also what took to the kids like would teach the kids and he really he also started us on like doing pull-ups and also encouraged us healthy in addition to everything but it was also an environment that was very good like encouraging co-feeding which was pretty cool yeah it was it's kind of funny so um when i was so i fought boys up until i was six school only pretty much there were maybe one or two girls I competed against, but up until then it was, I'd say 95, 96, like maybe even 99% guys I competed again. So, um, I started when I was 15, I started doing like adults divisions at normal tournament, cuz like the instructor shark, Amir was like, he would put me into those tournaments.

Adult men? No female. Oh, I was about to say. I was like, oh, man, that's nuts. And then I remember I did, like, a grappler's class, and I competed against this girl, and I tapped her twice. Like, I test her guard and tapped her,

and it turned out, like, Cyborg actually said, he's like, oh, that's the, he just won Pan Ams in Blue Vault Adult in your division. So like, then that kind of, like, everyone kind of from the gym would do those tournaments, but I was also 15 and I didn't really know of Worlds or anything like that. So I feel like that's the thing that encouraged me then to go to World, which then I was able to live all the adult worlds at that point, like a few months later. So I think that also kind of encouraged the IBDDF because we've, at that point, we never really saw anything like that. Like, cause here you go back, like, what was this?

Like you go back like to the two thousands, like in America, like early two thousands of like, it was the competition scene was way different than how it is now. Oh yeah. So much more popular now, right? Yeah. And you have so many different areas, like different tournaments, like you've been now ADCC has tournaments, IBJJF has like a new one every weekend. Yeah. They have the IBJJF open series, right? Wherever you are, Houston, Denver, all that stuff. Yeah, and Abu Dhabi. So even like local affordments now are so crazy.

But back in that day, they were kind of like on wrestling mats and like, you know, a whole gym. So did you train all throughout there? Do you still train there or are you in a different gym now? Oh, no, I live in Vegas. Oh, you're in vegas yeah yeah yeah yeah so when i was i moved to vegas for law school okay and how long ago was that uh seven years ago oh wow okay and then did you train jujitsu all throughout law school yes i did um the first year was a little harder to train because I was getting used to things. But I was able to compete.

I was able to compete a bunch. But then I was able to win Black Bolt World in my second year of work. It was pretty cool. Wow, that's really cool. Were you kind of like a little star when you go to your class? Like, oh my god, 10 means just one world?

Or were people just like, ah. I don't really talk to people about it. And also I don't have social media, so thankfully nobody knows. You don't have social media? Wow, that's pretty interesting. I know you just came up on Mikey's Instagram saying like, hey, welcome back to competition,

my sister, Tammy. I don't know if you know that he posted. I'm sure you did know. He's like, welcome back to the competition does that mean that you took a hiatus from competition for a little while recently no when did he write that recent

yeah I've been competing pretty consistently for all since he's all been 21 but only time I took off was because of COVID there were no tournaments maybe that's what he's referring to it says it only time I took off was because of COVID. There were no tournaments. Oh, maybe that's what he's referring to. It says it's a post that says Tammy is back.

Oh, no, sorry. This is 2021. What am I talking about? This is a long time ago. Yeah. I was like, did I retire? I didn't know about it. You know what?

Maybe like it's one of those things like Instagram is pushing your content. Mikey's content to me now that we're going to do this thing and I was looking it up. Maybe that's why they're pushing it now. And I got confused. Sorry about that.

No, you're good. You're good. Yeah. All right. So how do you juggle being full-blown? What kind of law do you practice? I do family now. New team.

Family law? Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, law clerks still have a family full-time. Oh, nice. So you're one of the good ones then. All right. So you're one of the good ones then. All right. So you're doing that.

And then how do you juggle your career as a law professional and then doing your training? Like that's got to be a lot. Yeah, it is definitely difficult. Certain times it's more difficult than others. Like I have to fit it in.

Like this morning I did cardio before work and that work now usually during my last race i'll try to take it take a break and well it's not really a break it's like a 20 minute walk in my head and then after i just train at night so okay it's usually nighttime training then yeah i'll usually have like a night with some friends that's why sometimes they get a little bit long but we find a manager. Yeah, that's your training schedule. Okay, so that kind of works, right?

You do a little bit of a morning workout. You go to work and you train at night. Nice. So what are you working on right now in terms of like grappling? Like what is your style like? You know, for those who haven't watched, because I know a lot of my listeners are judo related, grappler, kind of like a generalized grappling community.

But if they haven't watched one of your matches, like if you want to say, Hey, this is my style, this is my game. This is what I'm really good at. Like, how would you explain it? Oh, definitely a guard player. I feel like I have like a pressure passing style as well, which is a little different. I feel from like the smallest people, but yeah, it takes more guard player. And I usually like to say on a, uh, a, a, what is it, a knockoff version of Mikey.

Yeah, at least I try to be. Okay. All right. So what kind of guard do you play? I try to play, like, all different types. It depends on what we're doing at the moment. Like, Deli Fiva versus Deli Fiva, closed guard, like that kind of stuff. Okay.

So, like, the classes, like that kind of stuff. Okay, so like the classic. Yeah, yeah. Nice. Is there something that you'd say like that distinguishes your grappling, you know, that's outside of the norm of like regular De La Riva players versus De La Riva guard players? I feel like I also like to incorporate like more of like a closed guard as well into situations.

I think it's cool and also play a lot of omoplata as i feel okay okay nice yeah that sounds great so you're working on anything specifically coming up for this fight you have a uh competition against amanda eloquent tubby as they say funny thing is tubby and i are like actually really good friends oh that's amazing that's even better yeah and you guys competed against each other twice already we uh we used to train together a lot too um but uh nothing just normal training like normal just you know keeping in shape doing my normal stuff okay so you're not like, you know, get ahead of it by watching your matches or anything like that and trying to do a specific thing specifically for her? You don't do any of that kind of thing?

I feel like I do better when I don't like overthink it. I just, you know, do my own thing. If I try to overthink about what they're going to do, like I just kind of get into it. Okay. Do you have a big takedown game as well or are you going to pull guard or? Oh, I mean, now we have to do takedown. I feel like I have like a wrestling base, I feel, and I've been working it. I, you know, if I'm able to pull guard, I usually will pull guard. But I mean, I feel like I do have like even at Nogi Worlds in 2022, I was able to hit like a back take off of a takedown.

So. Oh, yeah. Very nice. 2022, I was able to hit a back take off of a takedown. Oh, very nice. So, how do you supplement your takedown games? Do you do judo, wrestling? I'm a judo guy. I'm biased towards that. Do you have any... How do you supplement? Do you just do takedowns or jiu-jitsu? Yeah, I would just do

takedowns or jiu-jitsu. I always liked wrestling more. Judo. Judo, I didn't like getting thrown. A lot. I'll be honest. I don't think even judo guys like getting thrown. That's a problem. All right.

So let's talk a little bit about like female grapplers with like, you know, you said you have a friendship with Tubby. I know, you know, grappling and women is really up and coming. I know for a fact like judo in Japan for women has always been a big thing now wrestling in Japan for women has is growing immensely because of their success I think internationally wasn't like yeah I think Japan has like one of the best yeah uh wrestling teams for the females right and even yes they're unbelievable and they have like Japanese women's dedicated training centers, you know, where they have a coach just for the women's team. It's no longer this thing like you go to a, you know, training with the men's team or whatever it is.

And there's like three or four women. It's not like that anymore. A lot of there are places like that, but there's dedicated women's spaces for training. And so it's really picking up steam. I know for a fact, jiu-jitsu as well. Can you talk a little bit more about like women's grappling

and the growth in the sport? Yeah. I mean, going back to Japan and stuff, even Rikako, she was really big for Japan. I don't know. Do you know who that is?

Yeah. Sounds familiar. I think she won World's 3-5 in basketball. She was very big. She was like one of the best girls at that lighter weight camp. And she's from Japan. Yeah.

But, um, yeah, it's, it's just like, it's kind of night and day from where that was. I mean, if that back when I started, like I'm telling you, I thought like mostly guys. And when I say mostly like probably 99% died up until I was 16 so I mean that pretty much says something then you'll put like girls today I don't think I'll ever they have that problem yeah I mean do you was that uncomfortable for you for you growing up or I think I honestly didn't think anything of it because it was just the noise nice nice and now you have a lot of female training partners as well no actually

not really yeah I just I'm kind of like kind of using what I feel work and I typically like training with the guys so I feel like yeah

yeah very cool so do you have any advice to like younger grapplers specifically like women grapplers that are trying to like make it in the sport you know whatever that may be you know uh yeah whatever that may be like do you have any advice for younger women grapplers coming up i'd say like i, I feel like grappling is one of those things that you could have like a really good day and then the next day could be a bad day. Like I feel like even the best have had like, I don't know, for like, I think even the best just it's, they're still human. You could go in and you could be like, wait, what am I doing? I forgot. You know what I mean? So I feel like it's just, that's like a big battle. I feel that I have. And I feel like probably most people have where

it, you have to like, kind of like, like go with the flow of things, not take, not let that get you down. So I feel like that would be like advice to anyone is that as long as you're training and you're trying you're gonna get better enough to feel overwhelmed or stressed about that what percentage of time do you think you have like a great workout versus like oh man today's grappling session was so so like what percentage um well it depends sometimes i'll go through periods where like i'll have like a good and then like bad few days and other days i'll have like where the whole week is bad and one good day it depends you know yeah it depends on if you breathe but depends on like your stress

there's a lot of different factors i feel but i feel like that's probably one of the things, the big, well, for myself, like the bigger mental battle that you go through. Okay. Nice. Nice. All right. So last question, uh, before we, you know, plug your fight night, right. Where can, first of all, where can we watch your upcoming fight? So I'm actually not sure yet. Cause my first fight, like it was, it was on YouTube, but not really anyone knew where it was. So I guess it depends on where in the card I'm put. If it's like, I guess on the lower part of the card, it'll be on YouTube. And then if it's on the regular card, it will be on Amazon Prime. Okay. Very cool. One fight night, July 14th, 2023. Last question. What does martial arts mean to you?

But for what, you know, you're dealing with like adversity. Yeah, for sure. You're overcoming it, whether it's on a daily basis or whether you're in a fight, in a competition or in training or just in general. I think that's one of the concepts of it. That that's what you think. All right. Nice. Thank you so much for being on the show and taking the interview last minute.

Yeah. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you. We'll be rooting for you while you're competing. One Fight Night 12 on July 14, 2023. You're fighting Amanda Tubby Aliquid. Best of luck to you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.