Vagner Rocha’s 15 year-old son, Achilles Rocha, was on the receiving end of an assault during his attempt to earn a place at the ADCC world championships 2022 at the North American East Coast trials. He came up against 10th Planet black belt and elite grappler Quentin Rosenzweig in one match and managed to outwork the more-experienced man to earn the win, but Rosenzweig was clearly unhappy with the result. As soon as the match ended he charged forwards and laid his hands on Rocha, something that might have ended much worse in years gone by when his father Vagner was a younger man.
However, Vagner didn’t react as angrily as many men would’ve and he kept his calm throughout the incident rather impressively. In the end, Achilles made it to the final 16 of the tournament but was defeated there and wasn’t able to book his place at the ADCC world championships. There are undoubtedly bright things in store for Achilles’ future, just as there are for Vagner Rocha’s other child, his older sister Jasmine.
The full footage of the assault against his son was uploaded to Vagner Rocha’s official Instagram account and former Bellator Middleweight world champion Rafael Lovato Jr commented on the post to show his support for the Rocha family:
“Man, that’s terrible!!! I don’t know how you kept your cool…”
And Vagner Rocha then replied and expanded on his feelings around the altercation. He explained exactly why he reacted so calmly despite seeing his 15 year-old son Achilles on the receiving end of an assault by a BJJ black belt he was competing against right in front of Vagner Rocha’s eyes, and why he didn’t intervene:
“Truthfully I have been made out to be a bad guy by people with agenda . So if i jacked this guy up it would have made me to continue to be that guy. ADCC is still my one goal to win and if I got banned there it would kill my dream. Plus Achilles had already handled his business so I figured I would cool this guy down with a tight hug didn’t wanna ruin the moment of him getting his hand raised.”
