About Us
Federico Tisi was born of January 29, 1974, in a small town called Suzzara, near Mantova, in the North of Italy, though he grew up traveling abroad due to his father’s working arrangements. Like many children, Federico began his martial arts training through Judo, a sport he started in 4th grade. He practiced other martial arts growing up, though he did not achieve a significant rank and always moved forward. In the mid-nineties, however, when Tisi was a teenager, he discovered Gracie Jiu-Jitsu by watching the first UFC. He immediately decided this was something he wanted to pursue and quickly enlisted in a BJJ gym.
The Vacirca Brothers of Zurich, Switzerland, were Federico Tisi’s first instructors. They awarded Tisi both his blue and his purple belts. Federico spent much of his time in Rome, and as there was no BJJ instruction being given in the Italian capital at the time, Federico decided to start teaching, just so he could have more skilled training partners to roll around with. This started happening when he was still a white belt and continued for the years that followed and by 1999 he founded “Tribe Jiu-Jitsu” in Rome.
When Roberto “Meneguetti” Almeida started coaching in Italy, Federico Tisi sought him out for training; it was Almeida who awarded Tisi his brown belt.
In 2005, after a long period training in Rio de Janeiro with both Gracie Barra’s Carlos “Escorrega” and Vitor “Shaollin” Ribeiro, Federico Tisi received his black belt (August 9), becoming the first Italian born to be honored with this achievement.
