Vagner Rocha is an experienced black belt and a former UFC fighter and World Martial Arts Hall Of Famer. He just had the pleasure of being interviewed by Grappling Central Podcast’s Ryan Ford. They talk about a variety of topics, among them are: early BJJ days in Florida, a varied experience in MMA as well as some modern bjj hot topics.

 Early start was a quite welcome. Vagner Rocha was born in Brazil and raised in Florida but he started Martial Arts when he was only 16 years old. One notable landmark of his journey? Getting choked out for the very first time.

#TBT 5 years ago at Abu Dhabi Pro with my brother @marcusbuchecha enjoying a eventful day with some great victories. I wanna wish good luck to all my brothers who will be competing there this weekend @deninhobjj @hunterkauai @cyborgbjj @marcusbuchecha and also anyone I know from the JJ world that I missed here. Boa Sorte molecada !!! Enoix #bjj #Vrma #mma #fightsports #porrada

A photo posted by Vagner Rocha (@vagnerrochamartialarts) on Apr 19, 2016 at 8:22am PDT

Another hot topic is everything surrounding American Top Team and Jiu-Jitsu in Florida then and now.

Rocha also reveals what was the best thing he picked up from Pablo Popovitch. Rocha got into MMA by watching

Rocha still considers jiu-jitsu in a vale tudo mindset. While he’s competed high level, and caters to all style he considers jiu-jitsu more a way to defend himself than sport.

MMA record of Rocha stands at  12-4 but he contributes much of his loses to accepting matches with late notice. Reportedly this is what happened in the majority of those loses. Rocha last fought at UFC back in 2014. But Rocha is looking forward to returning to the cage:

5 weeks away (August 12, Friday night) from my return to the cage in the best #MMA show in South Florida. Come check me out and have a great night of fights. I have tickets available in the school for everyone who is interested in coming. I will be counting on all of my VRMA family to be in attendance to bring the house down with noise to make this a spectacular night. *** I would love the local support guys and if you can share and tag a friend that would be great thank you *** #mma #bjj #vrma #fightsports

A photo posted by Vagner Rocha (@vagnerrochamartialarts) on Jul 14, 2016 at 12:47pm PDT

Rocha also touches upon his beef with the Danaher Death Squad that you might’ve read about on here.

Competitive grappling scene might offer more challenges for Rocha nowadays but he wants to split his time between the two. Listen to all of this and more by clicking play below: