This article is part of our ADCC 2024 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Achilles Rocha has just been invited to compete in the under 88kg division at ADCC 2024, joining both his father and sister in the lineup for the event. He received his invite on short notice after Lucas Kanard decided to leave the division to join the Craig Jones Invitational instead. Now the Rocha family will be setting records as Achilles becomes the third member of the family to compete in the same edition of ADCC. It’s something that has never been done before in the long history of the promotion and it’s incredibly unlikely to happen again in the future as well.
Achilles’ father Vagner Rocha was the first in his family to receive an invite to ADCC 2024, and he’s also the only one with prior experience at the world’s most prestigious no gi grappling tournament. Vagner has won two bronze medals and a silver medal at ADCC in the past and with his bronze medal performance at ADCC 2022, he was guaranteed an invite again this year. As a younger competitor with no history at the event, Achilles’ sister Jasmine Rocha had to earn her invite by winning the ADCC West Coast Trials earlier this year.
It’s been a longer road to ADCC 2024 for Achilles Rocha though, as he has made four attempts at qualifying for this particular edition of the event. He competed at both of the ADCC Trials taking place in North America and both taking place in South America too. Although he wasn’t able to stand on the podium at any of these four tournaments, he was always in the mix as a contender and managed to produce plenty of exciting moments during his time on the mats. He’s still young but will no doubt be coming in to ADCC 2024 eager to prove himself against the very best in the world at his weight.
ADCC announced the news that Achilles Rocha had received an invite to the under 88kg division at ADCC 2024 in a recent post to their official Instagram account: