Diego “Pato” Oliveira

Diego Oliveira Batista, commonly known as Diego “Pato”, is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cicero Costha, who worked extensively with coach Nabil Abdel Aziz. Originally from the Brazilian state of Amazonas, Diego made a name for himself in the sport of BJJ by competing for the São Paulo based team Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem (PSLPB), a time when he conquered important titles in the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) circuit, including the World, Pan, and Brazilian National Championships.

Diego Oliveira Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Diego Oliveira Batista

Nickname: Diego is often referenced as “Pato” which is the Portuguese word (Oliveira’s native language) for “Duck”. The name was started by his training partners when he was a young athlete as he had very large feet in proportion to the rest of his body.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Rickson Gracie > Marcelo Behring > Waldomiro Perez > Roberto Godoi > Marco Barbosa > Cicero Costha > Diego Oliveira

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2021 / 2023)
• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2021 / 2023)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2021 / 2024)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pan Championship NOGI (2021)
• 1st Place AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro (2021)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, LA (2019)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, MSK (2019)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, TYO (2024)
• 1st Place EUG 155 lbs GP NOGI (2021)
• 2nd Place IBJJF World Championship (2022)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pan Championship (2023)
• 2nd Place IBJJF European Open (2023)
• 2nd Place AJP Grand Slam, AD (2020)
• 3rd Place ADCC (2022)
• 3rd Place AJP King Of Mats, TYO (2019)
• 3rd Place IBJJF European Open (2020)
• 3rd Place WNO Championship (2021)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship NOGI (2017 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF World Championship (2017 purple, 2019 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship NOGI (2017 purple)
• 1st Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2019 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF European Open (2018 purple, 2019 brown)
• 1st Place IBJJF South American Championship (2016 blue)
• 1st Place CBJJ Brazilian Nationals (2017 blue, 2018 purple, 2019 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro (2017 blue, 2019 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, AD (2019 brown)
• 1st Place AJP Grand Slam, LA (2018 purple)
• 1st Place ACBJJ World Championship (2018 purple)
• 2nd Place IBJJF Pans Championship (2018 purple)
• 3rd Place IBJJF Pans Championship NOGI (2018* purple)

* Absolute
** Weight and absolute

Favorite Position/Technique: Well Rounded

Weight Division: Peso Pluma (64,00 kg / 141.5 lbs)

Team/Association: Dream Art

Diego Oliveira Biography

Diego Oliveira was born on October 2, 1998, in Parintins, a municipality located in the far east of the Amazonas state, near the Amazon River in Brazil, where he spent his early childhood before moving to Manaus at the age of 10, with his father.

One of Diego’s influences while growing up was a cousin who started dipping his toes in mixed martial arts (MMA) when Oliveira was in his pre-teens. Pato admired his family member and dreamt of one day becoming an MMA fighter himself, but before he started training any striking, his cousin advised him to first perfect his groundwork as he believed it was a crucial element to the cage fighting game.

In 2012, at the age of 13, Diego Oliveira decided to follow his cousin’s insight and joined the jiu-jitsu school of Arley Silva, a black belt who ran a social project near Pato’s neighborhood. Arley took Diego all the way to the green belt rank, but as the project fell through, Pato was left without a coach. Already fully embedded in BJJ’s competition culture at the time when the social project closed down, Diego decided to continue his path in grappling by joining the Nabil JJ academy, a gym led by Nabil Abdel Aziz.

As a 14 to 15-year-old, Diego started earning some money from competing in the absolute divisions of local professional tournaments. Although not life-changing amounts of cash-prizes, these allowed Oliveira to earn a living and help his father with the rent and expenses money, this way leading Pato down the path of professionalism.

After he earned his blue belt from coach Nabil, Diego decided to try his luck outside of Manaus, traveling to Rio de Janeiro to compete at the IBJJF Rio Open, without a return ticket, hoping to settle in a state more supportive of jiu-jitsu such as Rio or São Paulo. At the event, 15-year-old Oliveira spoke to renowned coach Cicero Costha, whom Pato had met in Manaus previously, and told him of his ambition. Costha had faith in Pato and invited the teenager to São Paulo, to become part of Costha’s colored belts program, with lodging, food, and high-level training provided. The offer was taken by Diego and his Nabil JJ teammate Hygor Brito, who moved with him to the PSLPB fighter house around the same time (2015 / 2016).

While at Cicero Costha’s academy Diego Pato became one of the most feared colored belts in the light-featherweight division, conquering numerous international titles before being promoted to black belt by Cicero in June 2019.

After a tremendous competitive 2021, when Diego was widely regarded as one of the year’s top performers, in January 2022, Pato announced he had joined the Dream Art team, a São Paulo based professional jiu-jitsu squad.