By Caoilte de Barra
Kyle Mayocchi opened his account at the 2022 World Championships in style with an impressive performance that saw him submit England’s Ryan Southern in the opening round of the contest.
This is Mayocchi’s second outing in IMMAF after falling short in his second bout of last year’s edition of the competition. His family play a huge part in IMMAFA as both his parents are involved with the national team setup, along with his brother, who is on the Australian youth team.
After a big win in the opening bout of Cage 5, Kyle spoke about having his family present at the Championships.
“Yeah, it’s good. Dad’s always been there since we were really young. He’s been our coach, and he’s a real big support and a big help to have around.
“Yeah, it definitely [makes the travel easier], and it’s good to have people to rely on along with all the rest of the Australian team. I train with them all the time, and it’s really important to have people I know.”
His brother, Brodie, created history at the 2022 Youth World Championships by becoming Australia’s first-ever World Champion, a win that motivated Kyle to pursue a similar goal.
“Like when he won, I sort of decided I’m going to take it seriously and try to win this and have a really good go.”
“It’d be a big deal for me, my family, and the gym [to make history for Australia] really.”
Their bond is strong as the pair help one another reach new heights and progress. Training together also allows them to settle any differences they have at training.
“It’s good because me and Brodie train together and get better together. We just push each other and push each other to our limits. It’s good. And at home, when we have to sort something, we settle it at training, so yeah. No fights or anything.” He laughed.
Tomorrow will see Kyle Mayocchi attempt to take another step towards the podium in the junior lightweight division when he faces Croatia’s Ivan Steko in Cage 3.
Hosted by the Serbian MMA Federation, the two amateur tournaments will take place at Štark Arena, in Novi Beograd (Belgrade), Serbia, from 11 to 17 February. IMMAF’s OTT platform, immaf.tv, will stream all bouts for fans all over the world.