Pedro Rocha

Influenced by his brother, João Gabriel, Pedro asked his parents to join jiu-jitsu at the age of 4, a wish granted to the toddler, then joining coach Marcos Carvalho’s class – who graded Pedro all the way to his late teens, going on to be promoted by Marcos Carvalho with his purple belt and Ricardo Ferreira at brown.

Always active growing up, Rocha practiced a number of sports alongside his jiu-jitsu training, being particularly successful in water polo and freestyle wrestling, a sport he started when he was 17, where he conquered numerous Brazilian National titles (9) and a Junior Pan American silver medal.

By the time he was 22 years of age, Pedro was solely focussed on his sporting career, and the following year Rocha enlisted in the Brazilian Navy, quickly becoming part of the organization’s Freestyle Wrestling Olympic Program, also holding the rank of 3rd sergeant by the time we wrote this bio (Jan. 2020).

Once Rocha’s brother – João Gabriel, opened a gym in the United States, he invited Pedro to come and help him out with the new business, an offer accepted by the sergeant. The work with his sibling would lead to Pedro’s promotion to the black belt rank in July 2019, in a grading ceremony led by João.