At first glance, Eduardo Rocha seems like just another muscle-bound bald guy, the kind you find brooding on weight benches between sets.
With copper-colored eyes that pin you to your spot like a memo on a bulletin board, Rocha doesn’t look like he has too many problems in dark alleys.
At 43, Rocha is a fourth-degree black belt and a world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter.
Although a peace-loving nature may seem at odds with his chosen profession, Rocha’s long years of fighting have taught him to choose his battles with great care.
Having started training in his teens, Rocha was awarded his black belt at the age of 27 by BJJ legend Royler Gracie.
Now a fourth-degree black belt, Rocha has competed over the years in a seemingly endless array of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments-with bewilderingly similar names-both here and in Brazil.
Besides the technical niceties of strategy and form, Rocha’s preparation involved countless hours spent perfecting the exquisite art of taking a punch.
How do you learn to take a punch? Rocha smiles his crocodile smile.
“You let somebody punch you until they get tired. Then, you let somebody else punch you.” Needless to say, Vale Tudo has a high rate of attrition, and Rocha’s affection for his teeth eventually won out over the dubious attractions of the testosterone-soaked poundfests of Vale Tudo.
Rocha’s life has had more than its fair share of ups and downs, but he speaks of it with the even tone and emotional detachment of an accountant performing an audit.
The eldest of three brothers, Rocha felt the weight of responsibility at an early age.
“Now, I see why she likes it. It makes you feel-you know-happy.” Blood and betrayal, sun and shadows, divine intervention and evil spirits-all are part of Rocha’s own personal Brazilian soap opera.
Following a near-death experience in a car accident, a fight that went the wrong way and the birth of a son, Eduardo Rocha decided it was time to start thinking seriously about the future.
Rocha came to the East Bay in November of 2004 with a suitcase, a surfboard, and a dream of building something that would last for himself and for his family.
His unique style attracted an immediate following and Rocha became their Prophet of Pain, on a sacred mission to free the real men of the East Bay from their inner sissies.
The obsessive-compulsive behavior BJJ inspires in practitioners along with his undeniable skills have been a recipe for success for Rocha in Oakland.
In a sport where black belt instructors are treated like rock stars, Rocha is King of his own brand of Rocha ‘n’ Roll.
Eduardo Rocha maneuvers through the changing styles and conflicting loyalties of the California Jiu-Jitsu scene with seemingly unflappable Libran aplomb.
With a rosy future on the horizon, Eduardo Rocha talked to me about the past.
If you could be somebody besides Eduardo Rocha, who would you be? Somebody who doesn’t need anybody.
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