We recently got the chance to speak to one of the brains behind Ocean BJJ, Fabrizio Forconi. The promotion has quickly made a name for themselves during the build-up to one of the most hotly-anticipated events in Europe, their stacked 2024 grand finale. We talked to Forconi about how this year has gone for the promotion, and what they’re looking to do in the future.
Tell us a little about yourself and your BJJ background:
“My name is Fabrizio Forconi, and I am the project manager of the Ocean BJJ Pro Championship. I have been practicing martial arts since the age of 6, starting with my father, who was a Judo instructor. Over the years, I’ve explored different disciplines, from kickboxing to boxing and MMA, until I fell in love with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. A minor injury interrupted my daily training, which led me to leverage my professional skills in communication and marketing within this field.”
“In this capacity, I first grew within Italy’s leading MMA team, Aurora MMA, founded by Lorenzo Borgomeo, who was also working with a longtime friend of mine, Dario Bacci, the president of the Unione Italiana Jiu Jitsu (UIJJ). The idea of creating a professional promotion, building on decades of experience with UIJJ’s institutional competitions, had been floating around since the mid-2000s. However, it wasn’t until 2022 that Dario began developing it seriously, involving me actively in the process. By 2023, we had finalized every detail, resulting in what is now a unique promotion in its approach to rules and the creation of match brackets.”
“The UIJJ, Unione Italiana Jiu Jitsu, is an organization that has been active in Italy since around 2012, following in the footsteps of the IBJJF by exclusively organising BJJ competitions and promoting and regulating the development of this discipline in Italy. Over the years, it has grown significantly, becoming part of the Italian Federation that manages Olympic Judo, FIJLKAM. Its flagship event, the Italian BJJ Championship, has surpassed 2,000 participants, and it has created the Jiu Jitsu Expo, a showcase of the European Jiu Jitsu world featuring lifestyle, products and services, streetwear and technical clothing, while actively collaborating with the IBJJF to organize logistics for several OPEN events in Italy, including the IBJJF European No Gi Championship in Rome, the 2nd largest bjj event in Europe.”
“In short, the president, Dario Bacci, has literally built the Jiu Jitsu sector in Italy from the ground up, aligning it with the highest standards you can find worldwide. Ocean is the professional branch of UIJJ, where, after a decade of exclusive experience in the field and global environment, it is finally tapping into a territory with enormous potential. Few organizations in Europe or in the world can boast such a background for their promotions.”
“As mentioned before, the idea behind Ocean stems from Dario Bacci’s desire to enter the world of professional promotions. After many years of friendship and later collaboration, our vision of the international BJJ scene was particularly aligned, and our combined skills motivated us to take on a challenge that the market was evidently presenting to us – or at least, that’s how we like to see it! We certainly didn’t want to conform to what other promotions similar to ours were doing, but rather, we aimed to bring a touch of originality by adding some Italian elegance to the professional sphere, combined with a global experience, particularly that of Dario and UIJJ.”
“This is how our unique set of rules was born, which, in just six national trials this year, led to an incredible 73% submission rate. Additionally, we implemented a special public athlete pairing system called “The Big Wave,” where, after each athlete chooses and declares their lucky number, a selection machine randomly and publicly draws numbered balls. Each pair of balls represents a matchup between athletes.”
“For us, it all really started with a simple consideration: BJJ is the art of submitting your opponent. How could we bring this concept to the forefront of a competition without distorting it unnaturally from our experience? This was our starting point when we decided to reverse the scoring order compared to more institutional competitions. What are considered IBJJF “advantages for submission” became the most important points to earn, meaning submission attempts, while all other point scoring manoeuvres and positions represent “secondary” points, which are only considered in the event of a tie in submission attempts.”
“This is how we created a system of four priorities, ending with the judges’ decision and passing through penalties. This approach pushes athletes not to stall in positions or make minor movements just to accumulate points but, rather, to actively pursue submission attempts. As a result, more often than not, submissions happen! This makes our matches highly aggressive and dynamic, forcing athletes to focus on the ultimate goal of competitive BJJ: the submission!”
“The challenges are the same as for anyone introducing a new proposal to a specific market: convincing the target audience that the idea is valid, serious, and delivers on all the promises made during the presentation phase. As I’ve mentioned several times, the decade-long experience of UIJJ greatly simplifies the work, but the key social media strategy we found to showcase the event immediately resonated with a broad audience. From there on, everything progressively grew: rules, social media communication and massive participation! Indeed, Ocean quickly became a European interest topic, attracting many high-level athletes to the trials. The leap from this initial interest to securing high-profile special guests was very quick. Now, all that’s left is to make history with the 2024 Finals spectacle!”
“This is a tough question to answer without seeming biased or raising doubts about a conflict of interest! All the Italian athletes participating have significant experience in both Italian and international competitions, while the European athletes have a resume that includes podium finishes in all the major stops of the IBJJF Grand Slam, both Gi and No Gi. I can only highlight a couple of athletes based on an objective characteristic: Paweł Jaworski, a multiple-time IBJJF champion, and Gamila Kanew in the women’s division. Both have won a trial in both the lightweight (-80kg) and heavyweight (+80kg) divisions and have declared their intention to compete in both divisions in the finals. A truly remarkable goal and use of energy!”
I don’t think any of us can wait for the final to be fair, it’s going to be great! If you look past that for a second though, what are your plans for the future?
“The first challenge is on September 21st: delivering a show to the global audience watching live on FloGrappling, with commentary from Riccardo Ammendolia and Demian Maia, as well as to the thousands of fans attending in person at Zebra Globe in Cagliari, Sardinia, thanks to our synergy with BJJ Summer Week. It’s an event we want people to remember for a long time.”
“The other challenge, which we’re already starting to work on, is the second edition of Ocean. And I’ll give you a sneak peek: this time, we will hold trials not only in Italy but also in several European capitals. This alone represents a significant organizational challenge and automatically raises the stakes for the 2025 finals.”
“Additionally, our collaboration with FloGrappling, the participation of some major international athletes as Special Guests, and the involvement of renowned brands will further enhance Ocean’s profile and character!”
“Just enjoy the show on September 21st on FloGrappling and keep Ocean BJJ Pro Championship in mind, because it’s a promotion built to last, with big ambitions and it already poised to make its mark in a competitive market.”
Fabrizio Forconi will be bringing the Ocean BJJ 2024 Final to life on September 21st, 2024 and it will all be broadcast live on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
