We’re quickly approaching that time of year where we all get to witness one of the biggest raw squat battles to take place in the sport of powerlifting. If you’re an avid fan of the sport, then you probably know the two athletes in reference. These athletes are no other than elite raw squatters Ray Williams and Jezza Uepa.
A native of Nauru, a small island north east of Australia, 120kg+ powerlifter Jezza Uepa makes waves every year as Williams’ main competition at the IPF World Classic Powerlifting Championships with his monstrous squats. This year’s Championships are taking place June 5th-17th in Calgary, Canada.
It’s often around four to eight weeks when Uepa (and sometimes Williams) start sharing videos of massive squats to spread hype around what we could expect at this year’s Championships. Right on schedule this year, Uepa has shared one of his first big squat videos of 2018 and it’s coming in at a massive 420kg (924 lbs).
In Uepa’s video’s description he writes what often follows any monstrous lift he shares and that’s none other than “420k bebe w8.”
In his post, Uepa also includes an angle from the back, which is nice to give everyone a glimpse of himself hitting depth per competition standards (side note, interesting choice in music). Now you’re probably thinking, hasn’t Uepa squatted well over 420kg (924 lbs) before? Yes he has, but this may be one of the fastest 420kg (924 lb) we’ve ever seen him do.
At last year’s Championships, Uepa had trouble with getting called for soft knees on both his first and second squat attempts, so we’re guessing the additional back angle could be in response to this, too.
Speaking of last year’s Championships, Uepa finished second in the squat with a third attempt 460kg (1,012 lb) squat, keep in mind, he attempted 425kg (935 lbs) twice with no success.
Fast forward to October of last year and Uepa hit 470kg (1,036 lbs) at the Brisbane Open. Check out that insane lift below.
Yes, this isn’t the heaviest Uepa has ever gone, but it’s a huge lift with great speed nonetheless. As we quickly approach June and the Championships we have to wonder, what can Uepa do this year? Will he reclaim the raw squat world record?
Feature image from @jezzauepa Instagram page.