Tommi Pulkkanen is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete from Lahti, Finland who began training at age 16. He mentions his entry into the world of grappling in detail here: “I played Ice-Hockey and football since I was 3 years old. I quit Ice-hockey when I was 15, because I was told that I was too small to get into the main team of my city. Then I decided to do some individual sport and I was always interested in combat sports. I knew that my friend Aleksi Toivonen (now fights at One FC) trained Jiu Jitsu and I decided to try it out! And here we are almost 12-years later.” Since then, Pulkannen received his black belt aged 25 years old under Pedro Duarte and trains at Hilti BJJ Lahti. He explains his training situation in depth mentioning “I have never had a teacher on daily basis. Of course, there are a lot of people that I have learned from. Greger Forsell has had a big influence on my Jiu Jitsu and he has helped me a lot in the past! I have always had to solve a lot of problems with my teammates and on my own.”
We asked him about his favorite positions in BJJ, he replied “I love to play lot of different open guard positions. But De la riva, spider, lapel and 50/50 are my favorites.” His main pass is the knee cut and uses berimbolos to sweep his opponent’s. Interestingly Pulkannen once broke his nose when attacking a berimbolo when his opponent accidentally hit him with an elbow whilst in the position. Elsewhere, his best submissions include leg locks and chokes from the back. Competing in the lightweight division he claims “I have medalled at the worlds and won the Europeans at lower belt classes, but as a black belt I have won Bronze at the no-gi Europeans, Madrid open champion, 2x Paris open champion, Copenhagen open champion and London Open Champion.” We also asked about his toughest opponents when competing and he responded by saying “I have fought almost all the best guys in my division. Some I lost and some I won. It is hard to pick one. Lucas Lepri, Renato Canuto, Michael Langhi, Michael Liera, Jonathan Satava etc. Everybody is tough at the highest level.”
He also has quite an analytical approach to the art and devotes hours into studying tape, as he puts it “It is hard to pick a main influence. I have always studied Jiu Jitsu like crazy, because I had to learn a lot of things by myself. I do it hours every day. I try to pick different ideas from different athletes and then fit them into my style.”
Q&A
You have a very unique style, I don’t really know anyone like yourself, there are some grapplers who are a bit similar, but not the same. Were you influenced by someone in particular or did you create this style yourself?
“Like I said before I study a lot of tapes! I study a lot of footage and I try to pick up new ideas of different styles. My physical attributes are pretty unique and I try to always edit different techniques to fit into my game. I also try to be as creative as possible.”
What do you think about BJJ in Finland as a whole and are there any upcoming talents we should know about?
“Jiu Jitsu is growing a lot in Finland. I have couple of very promising up and coming athletes and you will see them winning some major competitions in near future for sure.”
As for the future of gi grappling do you think it will still be 50/50 battles or could you see a style like your own becoming popularised in 10 years?
“It is hard to say how it will be in 10 years, but if the rules will be the same, I think the overall game will be pretty much the same as it is now. I think it also goes that way that people will figure out some new guard and then people will find a solution to pass it. In general, I think athletes will be more well rounded in every part of the game. But rules will be a big factor in the evolution of the sport. People will always play with the rules to win.”
Lastly, do you have any plans for the future?
“My goal for the future is to keep winning competitions and keep climbing to the top. Before corona, I was ranked number 12 in the world in my division (IBJJF rankings). Besides my athletic career, I do also coaching. I have already some very good up-and-coming athletes that I work with and of course, after my own career is over I plan to coach future champions! I already work with some of the top MMA-athletes and of course in the future, I have plans to work with even more with fighters.”
Pulkkanen can be followed here and is available for seminars anywhere in the world as well as having his own online coaching program (contact him for more details). You can also get his ‘Spaghetti De La Riva’ instructional here.
