{"id":9829,"date":"2026-01-14T18:12:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=9829"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:12:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:12:50","slug":"stratford-max-wins-mr-universe-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=9829","title":{"rendered":"Stratford Max wins Mr Universe title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>  <!-- Article Start --><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 3505 3908\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"VC3YUDLPEDM16B1RQM0E.jpg\" data-ar=\"0.90\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stratford-herald.com\/_media\/img\/VC3YUDLPEDM16B1RQM0E.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A Stratford personal trainer has outmuscled the competition to win the coveted Mr Universe title this month at the third time of asking.<\/p>\n<p>Max O\u2019Conner has twice fallen agonisingly short in the competition, having been named runner-up in both 2012 and 2017, but 2018 has proved to be his year.<\/p>\n<p>Max\u2019s success is remarkable given that he suffered a horrendous car accident in 2009 which shattered most of the bones on the right side of his body.<\/p>\n<p>To fix these and other issues he has had to undergo eight surgeries over the past decade, but at last injury-free he has finally reached is goal.<\/p>\n<p>Max first gained success in the bodybuilding world aged 23, winning the NABBA Pro-AM Title, won only by one other person at that age, Arnold Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, he\u2019s become NABBA World Champion (2015) and has twice been a runner-up at Mr Universe.<\/p>\n<p>Discussing his preparations, which included consuming 5,500 calories-a-day, Max said: \u201cThey were very smooth &#8211; zero injuries or illness for a change which allowed me to grow in to the diet. By that I mean I was able to add muscle as I got closer to the show, which is very rare to see these days with the size that bodybuilders \u2018blow up\u2019 to in their \u2018off seasons\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"teads\" class=\"teads-advert AGJEGJ\" data-provider=\"3\" data-devices=\"dtm\" data-format=\"['teads',2,1]\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was very confident going in to the show and I carried that through to the show itself while hitting my compulsory poses. I still got nervous when they were calling out the top six as I\u2019ve been there a few times before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of the top three competitors were representing the UK so I flinched every time they called UK out. It was only when I heard my name being called out in first place that I finally raised my hand when they did I think I smiled for until I was asked to leave the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt hasn\u2019t really sunk in yet, but I\u2019m sure it will, probably when I can switch off properly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll definitely continue to body build &#8211; my body feels great and the fittest it\u2019s felt in years. As for which competition next, that one\u2019s still to be decided. My current goal is just to continue developing my physique and adding on good quality muscle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->  <\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stratford-herald.com\/news\/stratford-max-wins-mr-universe-title-9134173\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Stratford personal trainer has outmuscled the competition to win the coveted Mr Universe title this month at the third time of asking. Max O\u2019Conner has twice fallen agonisingly short in the competition, having been named runner-up in both 2012 and 2017, but 2018 has proved to be his year. Max\u2019s success is remarkable given [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":9830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stratford Max wins Mr Universe title - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=9829\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stratford Max wins Mr Universe title - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Stratford personal trainer has outmuscled the competition to win the coveted Mr Universe title this month at the third time of asking. 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Max\u2019s success is remarkable given [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=9829\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T18:12:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stratford-herald.com\/_media\/img\/VC3YUDLPEDM16B1RQM0E.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Lugg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Lugg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben Lugg\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4120aa2378ae89899ba3254a6116bcd8\"},\"headline\":\"Stratford Max wins Mr Universe title\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-14T18:12:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/VC3YUDLPEDM16B1RQM0E.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"International News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\\\/?p=9829\",\"name\":\"Stratford Max wins Mr Universe title - 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