Brazilian mixed martial artist Vagner Rocha (7-3) has seen his career in the Octagon end at three bouts following a loss to Jonathan Brookins earlier this month as part of the UFC on FUEL TV 1 card.
Rocha dropped to featherweight and was matched against the TUF season 12 winner, winding up losing in the end via knockout at 1:32 of the first round.
The BJJ black belt spoke to Tatame.com earlier this week to announce his release.
“It happened, I was knocked out, but it’s good experience because you never think it’s happening to you. It happens to everybody”, commented Vagner.
“I was really confident about it, both on the stand-up and on the ground and I actually had a good start. I didn’t thought it (the punch) would get me, but it found me and hit me on the right spot. It was perfect. I have never been knocked out, nor even during practice… It really caught me by surprise”.
While UFC has not officially announced his dismissal, Vagner wants to rest. “Unfortunately I trained for almost three months for this fight because my last bout had been canceled and I kept on training. Now I’ll take some time to rest”.
Rocha debuted with the UFC this past June at UFC 131, stepping in as a late replacement for an injured Mac Danzig versus Donald Cerrone. ‘The Cowboy’ would earn a one sided decision over Rocha, who was now 1-1 in his last two.
Rocha would then fight in September in New Orleans, submitting Cody McKenzie via rear-naked choke submission in the second round to earn his first Octagon victory. The Brazilian would then drop to 145-lbs and face Brookins at the Feb. 15 event, suffering his second loss in three fights and subsequently released.