Vagner Rocha

Vagner Rocha, commonly known as Ceará is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Pablo Popovitch, known for his achievements in grappling and mixed martial arts (MMA) – having competed for the top promotions in both sports, the ADCC (BJJ) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (MMA). Rocha is also an ADCC medalist and the founder of Vagner Rocha Martial Arts, a well-known association in the South Florida region.

Vagner Rocha Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Vagner Rocha

Nickname: ‘Ceará’ is a word often used to reference Vagner, which is the name of a state in Brazil’s Northwest. The natives of this region are often depicted as Brazil’s version of hillbillies – tough country folk, ridiculed for their lack of sophistication and, in Brazil, for the size of their heads. The name was associated with Vagner by Jorge Popovitch when Rocha started training because even though he wasn’t born in Ceará, he fit the description.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Crolin Gracie > Jorge Popovitch > Pablo Popovitch > Vagner Rocha

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place ADCC US East Trials (2015/2010)
• 1st Place ADCC US West Trials (2017)
• 1st Place EBI Combat Invitational (2017)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2007 brown)
• 1st Place Florida Grappling League (2009**)
• 1st Place Grapplers Quest Champion (2009**)
• 2nd Place ADCC World Championship (2019 / 2024)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2021)
• 2nd Place 3CG Kumite III Grand Prix (2020)
• 2nd Place Eddie Bravo Invitational 13 (2017)
• 2nd Place Eddie Bravo Invitational 11 (2017)
• 2nd Place ADCC US West Trials (2013)
• 3rd Place ADCC World Championship (2017 / 2022)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2007 brown)

* Absolute
** Weight and absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: 50/50 of the Arms

Weight Division: Peso Médio (82,30 kg /181.5 lbs)

Team/Association: Vagner Rocha Martial Arts

Vagner Rocha Biography

Vagner Rocha was born on June 6, 1982, in Nova Friburgo, a Brazilian mountainous region included in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

At the age of 5, Vagner’s family moved to the United States, settling in Fort Lauderdale – South of Florida. It was there that Rocha spent most of his childhood and formative years, being also the place where he was introduced to martial arts, at the age of 7 through taekwondo.

Vagner practiced TKD for 2 years, losing his connection with the martial art as a brown belt, he would re-engage with combat sports as an 18-year-old – this time through jiu-jitsu. His newfound love for grappling was sparked in his native Brazil 2 years earlier, while on holiday playing around with a cousin who had gained some experience with the sport/martial art. Vagner and this cousin would engage in playful fighting every holiday since they were little and always on even grounds, this changed that Summer when Rocha was totally manhandled, choked, and tapped at will. Vagner soon understood his cousin’s new skills were owed to BJJ. It didn’t take long for Rocha to start contemplating signing with a gym, though it took him 24 months to finally join.

Vagner started training jiu-jitsu in 2001 with Jorge Popovitch. He was forced to slow down his training soon after due to the birth of his first child. He put training on the background to provide for his family, but once he found a steady job at a construction site and finished night school he returned, giving his full dedication to grappling.

The Popovitch family (Jorge and son  Pablo) were an integral part of Vagner’s progression in jiu-jitsu, awarding him all belts – including his black belt, a promotion that took place at the team’s end of the year dinner party in December 2007.

In 2008 Vagner was offered a position as a coach at the BJJ Centre (Popovitch academy). He learned the art of coaching and running a gym there, gradually leaving his construction job behind to focus solely on BJJ. Rocha would later add a career in mixed martial arts to his skill set, a competitive circuit he premiered in, in 2009 and eventually found his way to the sport’s top promotion – the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2011.

2011 was also the year when the Popovitch + Rocha partnership ended and Vagner Rocha Martial Arts (VRMA) was born – Vagner’s own association.

Rocha is often associated with Fight Sports, another well-known academy based in Florida. This link between Vagner and FS comes from Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu whom he met in 2007. Vagner had known of Roberto for long, from bumping into him in jiu-jitsu events, but the first time they interacted was that year at a grappling tournament called ‘Copa America’. Both Rocha and Cyborg made it through to the final of CA’s open weight class, and in the process of an epic battle, they gained great mutual respect, which led to a friendship. Training together on a regular basis, in 2009 Rocha and Abreu formed an alliance, and a bigger team was born. It was named The Avengers.

The Avengers were a merged formation, combining Cyborg, Rocha, Pablo Popovitch, Marcus Almeida, Rodrigo Cavaca, Raphael Chaves, and a few other well-known black belts. The team took the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds by storm in 2010 but eventually fell through – through the union between Rocha and Abreu persisted, someone Vagner has described as both a friend and an inspiration.

Cover photo by Blanca Marisa Garcia @ Combat EBI World Championship

Vagner Rocha Academy Web: vagnerrochamartialarts.com

Vagner Rocha vs Eddie Cummings