‘I’m really motivated this time and I’m not going to let it happen again’
Local star Jose Junior of Brazil in action against Russia s Abdurakhman Bilarov Berkut in the finals of the Black Adult 108 kg category at the Ramadan Jiu Jitsu Cup.
Abu Dhabi: Last Jiu-Jitsu World Pro final in the capital against Felipe Pena is still fresh in the mind of the popular Brazilian Jose Junior as he prepares for another shot at the title in little over a week.
Junior had ended up on the receiving end at that time and it was a hard pill to swallow as he was washing his hands off the title for the third time.
Jose, who comes into the tournament at the back of an exceptional season winning nine golds, not only wants to get that record straight but is also keen to clinch the World No. 1 title in the black belt category.
“The loss against Pena was the third defeat in the final at World Pro. It’s really hard to finish second because you almost get there, it’s like frustration,” said Junior adding that next day he was back to training.
“I’m really motivated this time and I’m not going to let it happen again. Inshallah, it will be the first place this time,” asserted Junior adding that competition is going to be fierce and there will be no room for error.
“I expect the level to be very high because we have some of the best players from the world here. I have trust in my training. I couldn’t do this by myself and though it is an individual sport, in the end we need our training partners, our colleagues. Hamdullah, I do not have any injuries so I feel very confident that I will have a great championship. For sure, it is going to be the best tournament of my life,” said Junior, who is currently leading by 140 points over Gabriel Arges de Sousa of Brazil in the World No 1 rankings.
With another 400 points up for grabs, the race for No. 1 spot is wide open, said Junior at press conference held by UAE Jiu-Jitsu Federation to give a heads-up on the event.
“I had the chance to fight with him (Gabriel Arges) in London and I won the fight and here we have 400 points for the champion, but if you get second place then it will be really tight. I’m not thinking of the second place, want to be the first,” said Jose, who will be fighting in the 110kg blackbelt category.
“Arges will be looking to win in his category and will try to pile on the pressure on me by winning there. Last time when we met, he chose to fight in the Open category. Here, there is no Open category but the battle for No 1 spot will be interesting and I will have to be at the top of my game,” added Jose, who has made UAE his home and works as a Jiu-Jitsu consultant at various organisations in the UAE.
Jose was also confident of the hosts UAE doing well in front of home fans.
“Jiu-Jitsu players have come a long way. Some of the boys who started training under me are doing well. The training here is top class. I’m doing a part of the camp with them and I think they have improved a lot from the past years. I believe, what they did in eight years it would take 40 or 50 years, but still they need to progress more,” said Junior, who won gold in the Grand Slams in Tokyo, London, Abu Dhabi and finished runner-up Los Angeles.
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