Achilles Rocha has just been promoted to black belt in BJJ on the podium after he won the brown belt heavyweight division of the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024. It’s the biggest title that the young contender has won in his career so far, but he’s been giving a great account of himself at the highest level of the sport for quite some time anyway. He’s already beaten some elite competitors at both Who’s Number One and UFC Fight Pass Invitational, and he’s clearly got a bright future in the sport ahead of him. It’s no surprise either really, as he’s the son of multiple-time ADCC medallist Vagner Rocha.
He’s been one to watch for quite some time in fact, as he’s been competing against black belts at ADCC Trials since he was just a 15 year-old. Although this was a big event, it’s not something that he isn’t already used to and in fact it isn’t even the biggest stage that Rocha has competed on this year. He was invited to compete at ADCC 2024 alongside both his father and sister Jasmine, making the first time in history that three members of the same family have competed. It’s impressive to even make it to that level at his age and he still has plenty of time left to go even further than that.
He was coming into the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024 as one of the favorites in the brown belt heavyweight division, but he had some tough opponents in the bracket. He won his first three matches in order to book a place in the final opposite PGF veteran Sebastian Attard, the biggest challenge in the division on paper. It was a fantastic match with plenty of action from both men and Rocha had to escape a few submission attempts from his opponent, but in the end he kept up relentless pace to win the match and take home the gold medal.
It was there on the podium that Achilles Rocha was awarded his BJJ black belt, with his father Vagner tying the belt around his waist. He also had the founder of Fight Sports there in attendance, Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu. With the new belt promotion and a title from the biggest IBJJF no gi tournament at brown belt, Rocha is undoubtedly about to be offered some pretty big opportunities in the sport. It’s tough for elite young competitors to get big name matchups on the superfight circuit but by making themselves undeniable like Rocha has done, those matchups always come in the end.
Vagner Rocha shared the news that he had been promoted his son Achilles to black belt in BJJ after winning the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024 at brown belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
