AJ Agazarm On Vagner Rocha: “You Should Take Your Black Belt Off and Turn It in”

By Moses Marasco / October 4, 2016

Recently AJ Agazarm and Vagner Rocha fought at Fight To Win Pro (FTW) 14… And BOY, was it electric! The match starts off with Vagner going for a collar grip, missing, and clipping AJ in the face… AJ, who then wanted a restart, turns his back to his opponent and begins walking away… And Vagner Rocha then “sparta kicks” him off the stage… An edited version of the vid is below…

Vagner Rocha: I’m sorry to anybody that got offended by my actions today. It wasn’t my intentions to offend anybody, but at the same time, I’m here to fight. If you ain’t ready to fight, don’t come to fight me.

I have some resentment towards him, but I didn’t let it carry into the match. And the first reach out kind of hit him nice and he turned his back to me and I’m a little bit old school. This is a fight at the end of the day, you know? Don’t turn your back on somebody. I don’t know where he learned his self-defense or his martial arts that he’s learned, but I would never teach any of my students to turn their back on somebody. So, maybe I taught him a lesson today.

Some people may not understand the kill or be killed mentality of a fighter in that situation. Emotions run high and the testosterone is flowing, which is not always resultant in the best decision making. I could have kept it on the mat the whole time and feel that a one second decision does not define the match that lasted ten minutes.

So I’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about what I did yesterday, and at the end of the day I’m not sure how I feel. I go to a competition (fight) where my opponent has told everyone he’ll strangle me unconscious and use my body as a raffle prize for people to pose and take pictures with; and this is not the first time he has disrespected me! Some people may not understand the kill or be killed mentality of a fighter in that situation. Emotions run high and the testosterone is flowing, which is not always resultant in the best decision making. I could have kept it on the mat the whole time and feel that a one second decision does not define the match that lasted ten minutes. I do feel extremely bad for the Stolberg family at the table that I pushed AJ into and publicly apologize to them and will contact them personally to apologize. #VRMA #fightsports #bjj @flograppling @f2wpro @grapplingweekly2 @jiujitsutimes Eu andei pensando no que eu fiz nesse final de semana, e no fim das contas eu não tenho certeza como eu me sinto. Eu to indo para um campeonato (luta) onde o meu adversário fala para Deus e o mundo que ele ia me estrangular e ia me deixar inconsciente no meio do tatame para as pessoas poder posar do meu lado em fotos; e vamos lembrar que essa não e a primeira vez que ele me desrespeita! Algumas pessoas podem ate não entender a mentalidade de “matar ou morrer” nesta situação. Emoções, adrenalina e testosterona a flor da pele, na qual não seria um bom momento para tomar decisões. Eu poderia ter mantido a luta o tempo todo no tatame, mas eu sinto que aquele um segundo de decisão errada não define nenhum pouco dos 10 minutos ocorridos na luta total. Eu sinto muito mesmo pela a a família Stolberg que estava sentada na mesa, na qual eu empurrei o AJ e a publicidade eu me desculpei e irei desculpar mais uma vez pessoalmente.

A photo posted by Vagner Rocha (@vagnerrochamartialarts) on Oct 2, 2016 at 11:35am PDT

But then, AJ Agazarm fired back at Rocha, saying that his actions were disgusting, and that he should remove his black belt…

AJ Agazarm: “A guy that hits someone in the face and, when he turns his back after wanting a reset, kicks him off the mats, you should take your black belt off and turn it in,”

I knew inevitably the character of Vagner would be revealed . . . it’s like a time bomb: sooner or later it’s going to go off.

If I were to fight Vagner again, I think that there would have to be a serious change in his behavior . . . I mean, you all saw it. It’s disgusting.