Perttu Tepponen

Perttu Tepponen is Finnish grappler and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Tero Pyylampi and Pedro Duarte, as well as one of the top European jiu-jitsu competitors of his generation, a reputation he earned after his wins in important jiu-jitsu tournaments such as the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) European Trials and the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) European No-Gi Open.

PerttuTepponen Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Perttu Tapio Tepponen

Nickname: N/A

Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlson Gracie > Murilo Bustamante > Pedro Duarte, (> Tero Pyylampi) > Perttu Tepponen

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place ADCC European Trials (2018)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open NoGi (2018)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Rome Open (2018**)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place SBJJL Finnish Open (2016 / 2017** brown)
• 1st Place SBJJL Finnish Open NoGi (2016 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open NoGi (2015 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2017* brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open NoGi (2017 brown)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open (2014 blue)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Rome Open (2017 brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF World Championship (2017 brown)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Rome Open (2017* brown)

Favorite Position/Technique: Open Guard

Weight Division: Super Pesado (100,50 kg / 222.0 lbs)

Team/Association: Hilti BJJ -TJJK

PerttuTepponen Biography

Perttu Tepponen was born on February 20, 1992, in Tampere, one of Finland’s largest and most populated cities.

Growing up Perttu played football (soccer) and ice hockey for recreational purposes, never entering a competitive arena until his combat sports days, years later. He added to his regular physical activities, weight lifting, at the age of 16, before joining a kickboxing / MMA academy two years later.

As an 18-year-old Tepponen became fascinated by mixed martial arts (MMA), almost immediately starting his quest for MMA training. He found an MMA / submission-wrestling (NoGi) club a few months into his research and decided to join the class. His focus was solely pointed towards MMA for the first couple of years, with no-gi training being a big part of his school’s curriculum, although, as soon as Tepponen started his military service, as he was granted a training leave for combat sports activities, he decided to use the full extent of those privileges and joined the gi class at his school (2012).

At first, Perttu was not a big fan of the gi but realized the toughest training for him at his academy was on the BJJ room and decided to train regularly. The big change in Tepponen’s mentality towards grappling was his silver medal performance at the European Open in 2014 as a blue belt. Earning a medal in one of the sport’s most prestigious events opened the young Finn’s eyes to the sport, who then decided to work harder on his ground game.

Coach Marko Helen was Perttu’s instructor up until 2014, a time when the MMA side of his gym decided to split and form their own academy. Already invested in BJJ at this point, Perttu chose to stay with the grappling group, a class who started being taught by instructor Tero Pyylampi from then on.

Although Perttu suffered from multiple atrial fibrillations, a condition that causes irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) and can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications, Tepponen never allowed it to stifle his progression in this sport, going on to conquer numerous tournaments in the sport, while also working on his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

After repeated success as a brown belt during 2016 and 2017, Tepponen was promoted to black belt by his coach Tero Pyylampi and Finland’s BJJ pioneer, Pedro Duarte. A ceremony that took place in October 2017.