In a recent episode of ConnectCast featuring Vagner Rocha and his son Achilles Rocha, the renowned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and MMA veteran opened up about a recent health scare that led to his diagnosis with heart failure.
Rocha, who has been a prominent figure in the combat sports world for years, revealed that his health issues began shortly after competing in ADCC .
“After the ADCC, I started feeling kind of bad,” Rocha explained. “It was kind of a heavy thing. I wasn’t feeling anything wrong, my weight started to go down, my legs were all swollen.”
Despite these symptoms, Rocha continued training and living his normal life, not realizing the severity of his condition. It wasn’t until he underwent a blood test that doctors discovered something was wrong with his heart.
The diagnosis was concerning, especially given his family history.
“My grandfather died with 50 years of age, of heart attack,” Rocha said, explaining his immediate concern upon receiving the news.
Further tests revealed that Rocha was suffering from AFib (atrial fibrillation), a condition where the top part of the heart beats irregularly while the bottom part functions normally.
“It showed that I was with a wrong beating, in English it’s called AFib,” Rocha explained. “The heart is literally beating, the bottom part is beating normally, and the top part was like this [samba].”
The severity of his condition became apparent when he noticed his resting heart rate was abnormally high.
“My beating was, I was standing, it was 120, 130. It was doing nothing… I spent 5 days at the hospital, looking at my heart, 120, 130 without lying in bed.”
The situation escalated quickly when additional tests revealed more troubling news.
“The doctor called me… It seems that you had a heart attack already. Your heart is so big, so dilated for so long because it seems that I was in this wrong beating which is very wrong.”
Rocha described a frightening moment when his doctor urgently called him while he was on his way to the gym.
“The doctor called me, I said, ‘What is this?’ He said, ‘Man, your heart is very bad and your beatings are very irregular, you are in a lot of danger.'”
What made the situation particularly confusing for Rocha was that he wasn’t experiencing typical symptoms of heart failure.
“I was normal, I had training in the morning, I was fine, there is nothing wrong,” he recalled telling his doctor.
At the hospital, doctors presented Rocha with two treatment options: electrical cardioversion (shock) to reset his heart’s rhythm or surgery to address the issue.
“They say, let’s do the shock first, it makes more sense,” Rocha explained.
The treatment was successful, and Rocha‘s heart was restored to normal rhythm.
“They did the shock, put my heart in synchrony, back to normal,” he said. “I did the blood test this week again, and I did another echo of my heart, and I showed that my heart is almost normal again.”
The health scare has required some lifestyle changes. Rocha mentioned having to cut out caffeine completely, something he used to consume in high quantities before training.
“I used to take a cup of coffee and a pretender, I used to go to Tatami, I used to train in the morning, I used to drink at night again, I can’t, I’m not drinking.”
Despite the health setback, Rocha has already returned to training, though with modifications. He expressed that he’s now focusing much of his energy on supporting his teammate Gilbert “Durinho” Burns, saying,
“I’m feeling responsible for him, because he’s a guy that I owe him a lot.”
Rocha‘s story serves as a reminder of the importance of regular health check-ups, especially for athletes who push their bodies to the limit, and demonstrates that even those in peak physical condition can face serious health challenges.
