# João Gabriel Rocha

> Black Belt

## Overview

**Name:** João Gabriel Rocha

**Belt Rank:** Black Belt


## Bio

João Gabriel Rocha was born on the 11th of July, 1991 in Jacarepaguá, though he moved as an infant to the Tijuca burg in Rio de Janeiro. João Gabriel started training as a toddler, more precisely, when he was two years and 8 months old. His Jiu-Jitsu initiation came through a Summer camp for toddlers which included Jiu-Jitsu in its activities, the instructor was none other than the man who would become responsible for the refereeing of the IBJJF (Jiu Jitsu’s most important governing body), Mr. Alvaro Mansur. At the time, João Gabriel’s parents noticed that young Rocha enjoyed BJJ so they enrolled him in an academy where he could train regularly.

Training Jiu-Jitsu seemed to be João Gabriel’s calling, and he never stopped practicing BJJ since the beginning. João earned all his junior belts training with Marcos Carvalho, and from the green belt onward his tuition was handed to Leandro Escobar and  Rafael Barbosa . With the support of his family, João Gabriel Rocha managed to leave his university studies midway to dedicate himself fully to competition, reaping the benefits of that choice with consecutive wins at the world’s biggest competitions.

At the start of 2013 João Gabriel had the opportunity to compete in the Copa Podio, a professional BJJ event that starred the top talent in Jiu Jitsu’s heavyweight division. Competing as a brown belt (one of the two brown belts carefully selected to be part of the tournament), João Gabriel won two of his 5 fights, proving that he belonged in the black belt circuit. As a result, João Rocha was handed his black belt on that same day, the 13th of January.

Early in 2014 João Gabriel Rocha was diagnosed with cancer and had to stay away from competitions while recovering from his illness. He returned to training in November of that year, set to make a comeback to the sport.

[fighter_status id=219]

(banner picture taken by:  William Burkhardt  of BJJ Pix)

João Gabriel vs Thiago Silva WJJPC Rio Qualifier 2011

João Gabriel vs Antonio Borges

João Gabriel Rocha Highlight
## Gym Affiliations

- **Alliance Dallas** (Dallas, United States) — Head Instructor

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**Last Updated:** March 21, 2026

**Data Source:** BJJ.Space (https://bjj.space/people/joao-gabriel-rocha-242ef7f758fc)