Diego Pato

Diego Oliveira Batista, known worldwide as Diego “Pato,” is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Cicero Costha and one of the greatest light-featherweights the IBJJF circuit has ever produced. Born on October 2, 1998, in Parintins, Amazonas—near the Amazon River—he spent his early childhood there before moving to Manaus at age 10 with his father. Training partners nicknamed him “Pato” (Portuguese for “duck”) as a kid because of his disproportionately large feet, a moniker that stuck as he became a household name in competitive BJJ.

Inspired by a cousin who trained MMA, Pato was advised to master groundwork first. In 2012, at 13, he joined a social-project jiu-jitsu school under black belt Arley Silva near his neighborhood. When that project closed, he continued at Nabil JJ under Nabil Abdel Aziz, who guided him through the early ranks. As a teenager he was already competing in local professional absolute divisions for prize money—helping his father with rent and cementing a professional path long before most peers. After earning his blue belt, a 15-year-old Oliveira traveled to the IBJJF Rio Open without a return ticket, hoping to plant roots in Rio or São Paulo. There he reconnected with renowned coach Cicero Costha, who invited him into the PSLPB (Projeto Social Lutando Pelo Bem) colored-belt program in São Paulo with lodging, food, and high-level training. Pato and teammate Hygor Brito moved into the fighter house around 2015–2016.

Under Costha he became one of the most feared light-featherweights in the colored-belt ranks, sweeping major IBJJF and AJP titles at blue, purple, and brown—including IBJJF World gold at purple (2017) and brown (2019) and World No-Gi purple gold (2017). Costha promoted him to black belt in June 2019. His black-belt breakout year was 2021: IBJJF World Champion (gi), World No-Gi Champion, Pan Champion (gi and no-gi), and AJP Abu Dhabi World Pro gold, establishing him as a dual-rules force. After that campaign he briefly joined São Paulo’s Dream Art professional squad (announced January 2022), then in February 2023 moved to Art of Jiu-Jitsu (AOJ) in California under Guilherme Mendes—continuing a career that would surpass Mendes’s own light-featherweight Worlds record.

From 2023 through 2026 Pato built a historic IBJJF résumé at 64 kg: World titles in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 (five black-belt Worlds overall, after his 2021 debut gold and a 2022 Worlds silver); multiple Pan titles (2021, 2024–2026); European Open gold in 2025 and 2026; Brazilian Nationals gold in 2025; and the 2024 IBJJF The Crown grand prix. In 2025 he completed the coveted IBJJF Grand Slam—Worlds, Euros, Pans, and Brasileiro in the same season—cementing light-featherweight supremacy. On the no-gi stage he added a second World No-Gi title (2023), WNO championships at 145 and 155 lbs, ADCC bronze at −66 kg (2022), and ADCC silver at −66 kg (2024, final loss to rival Diogo Reis). His game blends lapel guard and footlocks with pressure passing, choking from the back, and modern leg-attack systems that translate across gi and no-gi.

At the 2026 IBJJF World Championship he captured a fifth black-belt Worlds gold, becoming the winningest light-featherweight in IBJJF Worlds history and breaking the long-held mark of his coach Guilherme Mendes (four). After the final he left his black belt on the mat—signaling retirement from gi competition—and said his soul was satisfied, while remaining active in no-gi (including IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix no-gi and WNO). Still only in his late twenties and based with AOJ, Pato’s combination of volume titles, dual-rules excellence, and a full-circle story from Amazonas social projects to the pinnacle of the sport places him among the all-time greats of the lighter weight classes.