No-gi world champion Junny Ocasio spoke to Grappling Insider about his unbelievable competitors success in 2023.
Few black belt opponents have ever loved a extra profitable no-gi season than Junny Ocasio did in 2023.
After years of persistently discovering himself on the rostrum of main IBJJF tournaments however by no means within the number-one spot, the 34-year-old New Yorker broke that sample this yr, successful gold within the light-feather division on the IBJJF Pans, European Championships, and Worlds.
Ocasio lately spoke to Grappling Insider about his run of dominance, in addition to a bunch of different subjects, together with what it’s like to coach at Unity Jiu-Jitsu, methods to develop a dynamic guard recreation, and his signature “Junny lock.”
Junny Ocasio full interview
Whereas he has been greatest identified for his work on the elite no-gi scene, Ocasio has additionally repeatedly competed within the gi. However in 2023, he made the acutely aware determination to place all of his efforts into the no-gi season, high quality tuning his psychological and bodily preparation’s for the yr’s greatest occasions:
“I sat down with my professor and I made a decision that I wasn’t going to leap again into gi season, that I didn’t have the starvation for successful the world championship within the gi the way in which I had the starvation of successful the no-gi scene… I took that six months and frequently labored on my mindset and frequently labored on my weight-cut course of.”
Coming from a troubled background and a traumatic upbringing, Ocasio says {that a} key consider his aggressive success has been finding out his psychological well being:
“I began to appreciate I wanted to work on my psychological well being and there was one thing just a little extra deep than simply tournaments. Coming from the kind of childhood that I grew up with, quite a lot of trauma that I didn’t actually get to speak about, being so centered all through the years. I began diving into that.”
Past a renewed focus completely on no-gi competitors and a more healthy psychological state, Ocasio explains that forcing himself to relaxation additionally performed an enormous position in his success this yr.
Naturally, he maintained a rigorous and demanding coaching schedule all through the competitors season, however would take his foot off the gasoline pedal within the lead-up to main tournaments:
“The most important factor, you’d be stunned, when it got here time to the tournaments, it was a flex, however I needed to relaxation extra. I needed to dial it again down the 2 weeks main up and do nothing however prepare and sleep. I began forcing myself to get extra sleep, lose some cash on privates in order that I may get relaxation, in order that I may deal with tournaments… My efficiency skyrocketed.”
Certainly, Ocasio appears to have discovered the right recipe for fulfillment, going undefeated throughout no-gi Pans, Europeans, and Worlds. Throughout that stretch, he defeated among the division’s most established names and harmful up-and-comers, together with Roiter Lima, Willis Nunes, and 21-year-old Artwork of Jiu-Jitsu phenom Zach Kaina.
Ocasio says that dealing with the difficulties that life and age convey has developed his resilience and championship mindset:
“I symbolize the individuals who have jobs, who went by means of all that stuff, who needed to multitask, who had trauma. Going by means of that actually made me mentally sturdy. I’ve this bizarre capacity to only endure and push by means of and speak to myself in a approach the place I’ll simply decide myself again up and say, ‘We’ll do it once more. We’ll do it once more and we’ll repair it, we’ll do it once more and we have now time.’”
At an age that the majority opponents go for the masters divisions, Ocasio remained within the grownup division the place he confronted considerably youthful athletes, a lot of whom have educated in jiu-jitsu their total lives. His motivation to realize greatness by no means flagged:
“On the finish of the day, did you stamp your self within the historical past books? That’s essential to me. That’s extra essential to me than the rest in my life, to know that I did one thing, I reached this purpose that I mentioned I used to be going to do when each single individual advised me to give up after I was youthful, everybody advised me I’d be nothing… It was a really huge motivation, to be like, ‘You recognize what, I’m gonna do it and I don’t give a f*** what age I’m.’”
