We recently got the chance to sit down with Tyler Ross, the founder of Fighter’s Passport, to talk about how his personal Jiu-Jitsu journey and how that led to the creation of the platform. The idea is one that should resonate with any BJJ or MMA practitioner who has travelled abroad and decided to get some training in while they’re away from home. The idea behind the platform is to make the process of finding a place to visit so much easier than it currently is by bringing everything into the same place.
Hey Tyler, I think the first thing people might want to know is how you actually got into Jiu-Jitsu in the first place:
“Well I didn’t actually start with Jiu-Jitsu. In 6th grade I was way too short to make it on the basketball team so I went and started wrestling because there was 7 of us and 11 weight classes. I went and started wrestling and I fell in love with it. Not because I was anything to write home about, but really it was fun being on the mat because it was just you. I was a bit hot-headed growing up too, God gave me a very big mouth and a very small stature. So the good thing about wrestling is that it was somewhere I could go and let that all out in a constructive way.”
Although Tyler fell in love with grappling at a young age, it wasn’t until much later that he started learning Jiu-Jitsu specifically:
“After high school I went and started working and I wanted to get back on the mat somewhere but there was nothing really here. There wasn’t any catch wrestling, no Judo, and no Jiu-Jitsu. It wasn’t until I was 33 or 34, there was a couple of schools opening up in the area but I couldn’t afford to go to them. One of my close friends Jordan, his dad grew up doing Judo and he wrestled with me for a bit, he started training at the Gracie Barra here in Ashville. I went December 2019 and did my intro, but then February the world shut down and May 2020 I broke my right ulna. That was when we discovered that I had Stage 3 high grade Osteosarcoma, so I had to sit in the hospital and do Chemo for about 11 months.”
That must have been really difficult, did you have to stop training?
“It wasn’t fun but my sons started training at Josh’s school; I wasn’t even really one of his students but he always checked in on me. When I would be home from the hospital for a few days I’d sit on the back wall and I looked like Uncle Fester from The Addams Family. No hair, swollen face from steroids, and I just had my hood up and a mask on… but I’d get to watch my sons get out there and train. I would watch them have difficulty and then get over it, getting the moves down and flowing, really rolling. I realised that there’s nothing else on this earth like that.”
“I started back in January and participated in a Tap Cancer Out event in April 2021, and then I trained three or four days a week before I broke the cadaver bone in my arm. I got them to make a cast that was special so I could wrap it up and train, and our instructor’s Josh and Dakota made sure I only rolled with higher belts so I could stay on the mats. Then after about 4 years total but about 22ish months of mat-time total, in April of 2024 I got my blue belt.”
That’s awesome! It sounds like it’s been a long journey, but when did you come up with the idea for Fighter’s Passport?
“So every time I would go somewhere with my family on vacation or travel for work, I just wanted to get on the mat and train wherever I was. I ended up meeting some really amazing people and there’s a common theme in Jiu-Jitsu, by and large there are truly awesome people everywhere.”
It was one specific trip that inspired Tyler to create Fighter’s Passport though:
“I was in New York with a buddy of mine and we were staying in Manhattan, so I got online to look for Jiu-Jitsu gyms near me. So many gyms popped up but it wasn’t consistent in terms of finding their schedule, the best way to contact them, or any other information. It took me a couple of hours to finally get a hold of the right people in some places but sometimes they had stuff going on or they just weren’t accepting drop-ins.”
“I ended up going to Marcelo Garcia’s and I was only going to stay for one class, but I ended up doing three back-to-back and staying there until it closed. I got back to my hotel room and I was on cloud nine, but then it hit me that there’s got to be an easier way to find gyms like Open Table but for Jiu-Jitsu.”
That makes perfect sense too! So how did you bring that idea to life?
“I guess it was May of 2022, I wrote it on a piece of paper and I sat on it for a while. I spoke to a few of my buddies and we were workshopping it for a while. In North Carolina we have this program, The Small Business Technology Development Centres. Where I’m at it’s with Western Carolina University and they have a staff that’s dedicated to helping small businesses and startups. I had a meeting with my mentor about another startup and he asked me if I had any other ideas, so I told him about Fighter’s Passport. He thought I really had something, so I decided to run with it.”
It wasn’t long at all before Tyler actually built Fighter’s Passport as it is today:
“Officially we signed a contract with our development company in November 2023, and we launched in April 2024. We did our big public launch at Jiu-Jitsu Con in 2024 and right now it’s US only, but we’re looking at expanding to Canada in the second quarter this year. Then we’ll be going to the UK and Australian after that. Eventually we’ll look at South America, the rest of Europe, and Asia too.”
That’s awesome! Is there anything else you’re looking to build into the platform too?
“We’re always looking to add more to the platform and most recently we added the ability to add a digital waiver, gyms can check if the waiver has been signed, and they can even put in their stripe information to take any fees they need to as well.“
That’s pretty much all we have time for, but is there anyone you’d like to give thanks or a special mention to before we go?
“A few folks… My amazing wife Britney who is my biggest cheerleader and the first one to pick my chin up. I don’t deserve her and am so thankful for her. Then my school and family at Gracie Barra Asheville, specifically our professor Josh who is fighting a relapse of AML. He’s one of the best humans and toughest people I’ve ever met. Finally one of my best friends, my business partner Joshua who believed in me and didn’t hesitate to come alongside my wild idea. God’s been really good and has blessed me with so much!”
Click here to visit Fighter’s Passport and find out more about the service that Tyler Ross has created. (Currently only available in the US, but will be available in other countries shortly.)
