Diego "Pato" Oliveira "Pato"

Diego Oliveira Batista was born on October 2, 1998, in Parintins, a river municipality deep in Brazil's Amazonas state, far from the sport's São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro power centers. His nickname, "Pato" — Portuguese for "duck" — was given to him by training partners as a child, a good-natured jab at his unusually large feet relative to the rest of his frame. Inspired by a cousin already training, Oliveira began jiu-jitsu in 2012 at a local academy before eventually making the move to São Paulo at age 15 to train under Cicero Costha, one of the sport's respected colored-belt developers, where he earned his black belt in June 2019.

Oliveira's ascent accelerated quickly once he reached black belt. His 2021 season is widely remembered as one of the best of that competitive year: he won the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship along with the Pan American and Pan American No-Gi titles, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous lighter-weight competitors on the circuit in both rule sets. That same competitive intelligence and finishing instinct carried over into gi competition, where he added an IBJJF (gi) World Championship title in the years that followed, along with strong showings across multiple continents, including a standout performance at the 2023 IBJJF Dallas International Open where he medaled in four separate divisions in a single weekend.

Oliveira's team affiliations shifted several times during his prime years — he left Cicero Costha's program in January 2022 to join Dream Art Academy, then moved again in February 2023 to Art of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ), the California-based super-team that has become one of the sport's dominant competitive programs. At AOJ he found a stable home to continue developing his no-gi and submission grappling, which by then had become a central part of his identity as a competitor.

His no-gi résumé took on a new dimension through the ADCC World Championship, submission grappling's most prestigious event. Oliveira medaled bronze at the 66-kilogram division in 2022, then returned in 2024 to reach the final, where he faced defending champion Diogo Reis at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Reis submitted him with a rear-naked choke, but the run to the final — improving on his 2022 result — cemented Oliveira as one of the featherweight division's most consistent performers on the world's biggest no-gi stage.

Stylistically, Oliveira is known for a scrambling, high-pace guard-passing approach paired with dangerous leg entries, a combination that plays especially well in the fast, explosive exchanges typical of the lighter no-gi weight classes. His willingness to switch teams in pursuit of better training partners and sharper competition, along with his consistent presence at both the IBJJF's marquee gi events and the sport's premier no-gi tournament, has made him one of the most complete and battle-tested featherweights of his generation — equally comfortable chasing IBJJF gold as he is trading submission attempts under ADCC's no-gi ruleset.

Explosive, high-output featherweight known for scrambling guard passes and dangerous leg-attack entries in no-gi