The promotion handed an ADCC silver medalist a straight chance at the welterweight title just over a year after he was hospitalized with atrial fibrillation and a suspected prior heart attack. Nobody in the sport seems to want to ask the obvious questions.
UFC BJJ’s next welterweight title match has raised eyebrows across the grappling community and for good reason. The promotion has booked 43-year-old Vagner Rocha to challenge Andrew Tackett for the welterweight title, a booking that demands scrutiny on multiple fronts simultaneously: athlete safety, PED testing credibility and booking logic that defies any coherent competitive ladder.
Let’s start with the medical record because it is not in dispute. In January 2025 it was reported that Rocha had been released from the hospital following a heart failure diagnosis. The story that emerged from Rocha’s own words was alarming.
Rocha said his health issues began shortly after competing at ADCC.
“After the ADCC, I started feeling kind of bad. It was kind of a heavy thing. I wasn’t feeling anything wrong, my weight started to go down, my legs were all swollen.”
He continued training and living normally not grasping the severity of what was happening in his chest.
A blood test changed everything. Doctors discovered something was wrong with his heart, a finding that immediately alarmed Rocha given his family history. His grandfather passed away at 50 of a heart attack.
Further testing revealed Rocha was dealing with AFib, atrial fibrillation, a condition where the upper chambers of the heart beat erratically while the lower chambers continue normally. His resting heart rate while simply standing was running at 120 to 130 beats per minute.
“I spent 5 days at the hospital, looking at my heart, 120, 130 without lying in bed.”
“The doctor called me… It seems that you had a heart attack already. Your heart is so big, so dilated for so long.”
The situation escalated further when additional testing revealed what doctors believed was evidence of a prior cardiac event Rocha had not even known about.
Doctors then presented two options, electrical cardioversion or surgery. They went with the electrical cardioversion. It worked and his heart returned to near normal function.
What made the situation more disorienting Rocha said was that he had not felt sick.
“I was normal, I had training in the morning, I was fine, there is nothing wrong.”
That is precisely what makes AFib dangerous, it can be catastrophically silent until it is not.
Rocha was required to cut out caffeine entirely following his discharge. He had previously consumed it heavily around training sessions morning and night. That is a significant lifestyle change and a marker of how seriously doctors took his condition.
The medical history alone would prompt reasonable questions about this booking. But it does not exist in isolation. Rocha is openly on TRT, testosterone replacement therapy, and has been suspended by the IBJJF for PED violations.
In February 2023 it was reported that Rocha addressed his use in a statement that was unusually candid for the sport:
“We all can clearly see who is on PEDs and who could possibly not be. I am about to turn 41 years old and I have been competing at the top of grappling for over a decade. I have no shame to say I am on TRT replacement for my body in accordance to a doctor.”
He went further, addressing the sport’s broader culture around performance enhancing drugs:
“I recommend younger athletes to not use PEDs and I recommend all my friends above 35 to get blood work done to check your levels so they can live a healthier life… Long story short is many athletes are on PEDs but how many own up to it and how many really need it?”
That candor was in many ways refreshing. The problem is what comes next, a 43-year-old man openly on exogenous testosterone with a documented history of atrial fibrillation, a suspected prior heart attack and a dilated heart is now being booked for a title match at a major grappling promotion. The grappling community has widely speculated that long term PED use may have contributed to his cardiac condition. That is not a fringe belief, cardiac hypertrophy and arrhythmia are documented risks associated with certain PEDs.
UFC BJJ made significant noise about implementing PED testing in 2026 particularly following the Mikey Musumeci signing. As of late 2025 reports indicated Tackett was preparing for testing to begin in November of that year. Sources now suggest that rollout has been pushed again with a limited program reportedly covering title holders only not expected to begin until mid 2026 at the earliest. The promotion has grown conspicuously quiet on the subject this year.
Even setting aside the medical and PED context entirely the booking is structurally wild. Rocha was handed a straight title contender status without competing for the promotion at all.
Compare that to how the promotion has treated athletes with objectively larger profiles. Nicholas Meregali, started in the middle of his respective card when he came aboard. The same is true of Joao Miyao, whose social media footprint alone dwarfs almost anyone in the sport. Miyao has a following that you can count on one hand among all BJJ athletes globally. The argument that he needed to be built up toward a title contender status at UFC BJJ stretches credibility to the breaking point. Yet here is Rocha bypassing that process entirely.
There is no obvious competitive rationale being offered publicly. Vagner Rocha signing shows that UFC BJJ is unable to lend anyone credibility because it has none.
A man who is 43 years old and was hospitalized for heart failure 15 months ago and is openly on TRT just got a straight title chance. What happens if he wins? Do we just wait for PED testing to become implemented and wait for him to turn into a meme like Vitor Belfort? Is that the best outcome?
Nobody is rooting against Vagner Rocha. He is a legitimate grappler with a decorated career. The questions here are not about him, they are about the promotion making decisions that warrant transparency and offering none.
