Mauricio Oliveira will be stepping in to replace Jackson Nagai in the middleweight division of The Crown on November 19th, 2023. It’s a huge opportunity for the talented grappler, as he’ll be competing in the very first edition of what is looking like a fantastic event by the IBJJF. Oliveira has proved himself as a fantastic competitor multiple times over the years, and he actually managed to win the IBJJF World Championship at every colored belt level before he was promoted to black belt in 2018. He’s had mixed results since then but there have been several flashes of brilliance, including a recent silver medal performance at the IBJJF South American Championship 2023.
Oliveira certainly has a tough time ahead of him at The Crown though, as the other three men making up the middleweight division are among the best on the planet at that weight. He hasn’t faced any of them since being promoted to black belt though, so it’ll be interesting to see how Oliveira fares on the mats and if he’s able to offer something that his opponents haven’t dealt with before. The favorite to win the division is Tainan Dalpra, and it looks as though he’s going to be eager to return to his incredible form and stake his claim as the best middleweight on the planet after losing his status as the undisputed king of the division to Jansen Gomes.
The other two grapplers in the division are equally talented though, as Andy Murasaki and Pedro Maia are among the best competitors in any weight class. It doesn’t really matter how the bracket is set up, because Oliveira will have a difficult opponent regardless of who he ends up standing opposite on the mats. He’s a fantastic addition to the tournament though and will serve as a great replacement for Nagai. All in all, the Crown is almost certainly going to be an exciting event with a number of superb matches taking place across all six of the divisions.
The IBJJF announced the news that Mauricio Oliveira was going to replace Jackson Nagai in the middleweight division of The Crown in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
