Unstoppable Vic and the transformative power of jiu jitsu
Sep. 23—CORINTH — Victoria Simpson, known in the competitive jiu jitsu community as Unstoppable Vic, is a living testament to the transformative power of the sport.
The 24-year-old Mantachie native adopted the name after picking the walkout song for her first fight — "Unstoppable" by Sia.
The chorus conveyed the confidence she'd found and the person she'd become since being introduced to Brazilian jiu jitsu just a few weeks prior: "I'm unstoppable, I'm a Porsche with no brakes / I'm invincible, yeah, I win every single game / I'm so powerful, I don't need batteries to play / I'm so confident, yeah, I'm unstoppable today."
Brazilian jiu jitsu is a grappling art with the objective of overpowering an opponent, not only through sheer strength but also through technical skill.
"You start on your feet but the goal is to be on the ground, and you just want to use technique and set them up for a choke or a joint lock," Simpson said. "And then they tap."
Swift success in competition
By day, Simpson is a registered behavior technician at the Center for Behavior Analytic Services in Tupelo providing behavior therapy to children on the autism spectrum.
After work, you can find her training at the gym. She spends four to five evenings per week training for roughly two hours, primarily at Paragon Martial Arts in Corinth.
"I invest a lot of time in it," Simpson said. "I'm here a lot. And I love every second."
She also enjoys cross-training at other gyms across north Mississippi, and on the weekends she sometimes visits other states to cross-train at their gyms.
"Cross-training is really important because the people in your gym are learning the same things you are," Simpson said. "When you're doing it for so long, they learn your style and they can feel what you're about to do. But you go to other gyms and they know different stuff than you do. I have no idea what they're going to do and they have no idea what I'm going to do, so it's more realistic and opens up a lot of holes in my game so that way I can come back here and work on them and that makes me a better competitor."
She stumbled into jiu jitsu by chance when she scrolled past an online ad for a local class for women. Simpson attended her first class and began training in January 2022.
"I thought I was going to go to the gym once a week," Simpson said. "I had no idea that it was going to change my life like it did."
A decade of experience as a competitive cheerleader earlier in life actually helped her with jiu jitsu. She benefitted from the learned mind-body connection and knowing what it's like to have to work hard for what you want. In either sport, a level of technique is required to perform well.
Though she was a beginner, something about practicing jiu jitsu just felt right, and after a few classes she began sparring.
"It just was really interesting to me how everybody knew more than me and I literally just had to put myself out there and figure out how to get better at it so I wouldn't keep being in bad positions," Simpson said. "I just thought that was super intriguing."
She has progressed to a blue belt, which is the next step up from a beginner's white belt.
Once she had enough training experience, she began competing.
In competitive jiu jitsu, there are two types of events — superfights, which are one-on-one matches against a single opponent, and tournaments, where participants compete in bracketed matchups by division.
So far, her record is 10-2 in superfights. In tournaments, she's brought home nine gold medals, four silver and one bronze.
"The most confident version you see of me is whenever I step on a competition mat," Simpson said. "I know that I did everything to prepare for it. I put everything into it and I'm there. Even if I fail, I know that I'm going to be OK, I know what to do to recover from it. I'm just going to get back up and keep doing it."
Becoming a better athlete and person
For Simpson, jiu jitsu goes beyond self defense and the glory that comes with a competitive victory.
"I've faced a lot of really big challenges in my short life," Simpson said.
Her father died when she was 8 years old, and her step-father died when she was 16. She described experiencing low self-esteem, lacking confidence and making unhealthy choices before she began training.
"I've had some difficult things happen in life since I started training," Simpson said. "So instead of just being like 'Oh my God, I literally don't know what to do. This is horrible.' I thought to myself 'This sucks but I know that I'm capable of making the most out of it. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to consciously make a decision to make the most out of this situation.'"
The simple act of putting herself out there and allowing herself to fail as a beginner in jiu jitsu has boosted her confidence level and fostered a sense of self-love.
"I wanted to be so much better at training that I wanted to be a better person as well," Simpson said. "My habits changed and I started consciously eating clean and getting more sun exposure and even if I didn't come train, getting some kind of movement in."
She began posting on her Instagram account, @viccc.bjj, about jiu jitsu and gained an initial following from the sport. But she also uses her platform to advocate for mental health, amassing more than 18,000 followers.
"I've gained a following and a respect from the community, so I get to use that to make it about so much more than jiu jitsu," Simpson said.
The sport and self-betterment go hand-in-hand, she said.
"It's made me so proud of who I am that every day I just want to be authentically myself and let other people see me being authentically myself," Simpson said. "I think all humans deserve to be who they are and do what they want to be in life."
One of the most important lessons jiu jitsu teaches, and that she hopes to share with others, is discipline.
"For me, what discipline has looked like from this sport is you come in here, everybody's better than you and you want to be better at it. You can be better at it by just showing up but you can be way better at it by doing things outside of the gym that make you feel better and fuel you and take care of you. It's a discipline that has followed me into life and shown me how important it is to take care of myself in every aspect."
She hopes that everyone can find what motivates them and shows them how capable of greatness they are, whether or not it's jiu jitsu.
"Whatever it is in life that you truly want to do and will make you happy, no matter how scary it feels or how impossible it feels, try," Simpson said. "Do it anyway. It's such a rewarding feeling when you get to look back and think about where you were and how you were just a person with thoughts of dreams and then you worked your ass off to make it happen."
Looking to the future
Simpson hasn't stopped dreaming.
In the competitive world, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Submission Fighting World Championship is the premier event in jiu jitsu.
"It is a goal that I will accomplish, being there," Simpson said. "Of course, I'd love to be an ADCC champion in my weight class, but I know that I'll be on the mats and I'll be making a difference."
Other long-term goals include doing jiu jitsu full-time as a professional athlete and opening a mental health coaching business.
She hopes to use her influence to inspire others to do what makes them happy. In line with that mission, she plans to launch a podcast in 2024.
"Life is going to knock you down. It's going to get hard sometimes, and you feel what you've got to feel and you get up, keep going and you learn from it," she said. "That's something that jiu jitsu has taught me that has followed me into life, and so I just want to be able to spread that message to the community as well. It's a very powerful mindset to have."
Though she's already come so far, Simpson is just getting started. And with a name like Unstoppable Vic, she's sure to go far.
