Vagner Rocha‘s upcoming UFC BJJ match against Andrew Tackett was not planned. According to Rocha the bout came together on the fly after several potential opponents backed out the same night.
“That night apparently he had a lot of people fall out that didn’t want to face him,” Rocha explained. “I happen to be here for my daughter to coach her and they know that I’m a game opponent and asked me, hey, would you be interested in that and I was like, I’m in.”
The veteran grappler made no attempt to downplay what the opportunity represents. We’ve previously criticized this matchmaking due to the fact Vagner Rocha is openly on TRT and has had heart failure a year ago.
“I’m skipping the line and jumping right to the title. The UFC BJJ title, that has nothing to do with Andrew, it has to do with the position of where he is. And that’s it, you want to fight the best, you want to have the titles that the best have and that’s my goal.”
Vagner Rocha who holds considerably more experience than Andrew Tackett offered his perspective on how previous opponents fared against the current champion.
“I don’t know if they came in with the strategy of being entertaining and fell prey to getting stuck. I can’t tell you what they could have done differently because I don’t know if they have the skill sets to do anything differently.”
He did point to one performance as a standout noting Renato Canuto.
“I think Renato Canuto had a really good showing against him. I think he was one that I could say that he kinda fell prey to scrambling with Andrew, but the others, I feel like they weren’t at that level. Not to knock on them, I think they’re amazing. I think they’re just young yet and they got a lot more years to come before they have that experience.”
On the subject of the UFC BJJ bowl format Vagner Rocha was straightforward in his approval.
“It just keeps the action going. It doesn’t allow people to run, sometimes there’s a lot of bad resets in Jiu Jitsu because there’s flat mats. So in an arena where there’s a bowl where you can’t run, it just keeps the action going till the match stops.”
At 43 years old Vagner Rocha is fully aware of what a title run at this stage of his career would mean.
“It’s prestige, it’s hard to say it’s not prestige, it’s prestige. I’ve done a lot of amazing things. But I believe at 43 years old, this would just be another amazing moment.”
He also had a broader view of what UFC BJJ represents for the sport.
“Look what we’re doing right now, interviews, travels, photohoots. This is the dream of anybody who wants to become professional in anything. And I believe this is just the beginning, I believe there’s way more to come.”
