Nicholas Maglicic

Nicholas Maglicic left the 2026 Worlds with a silver medal and, almost four months later, became the champion. The Australian from Atos lost the heavyweight final on the mat and inherited the gold when the IBJJF redid the podium in September.

The change came because Rider Zuchi, who won the final 4-0, was disqualified. On September 21, USADA announced a three-year suspension for Zuchi, for a positive test on a sample taken the day of the final, along with the disqualification of his results. On the 25th, the IBJJF published the revised heavyweight podium: Maglicic with gold, Leonardo Ferreira with silver, and Francisco Papasidero and Luiz Felipe Santos with bronze.

To reach the final, Maglicic submitted Xavier Silva in his first match with a choke from the back, beat Felipe Costa 2-0 in the quarterfinals and beat Luiz Felipe Santos 4-2 in the semifinal. In the open class he won one match and lost in the round of 16 to Marcus Ribeiro.

Nico, as he is known, was born in Sydney, Australia, on October 17, 2000. He grew up in the Sutherland Shire area and started Jiu-Jitsu at age 12, at his father’s suggestion, under Rodney Ellis of Nova União, who coached him from white belt to brown belt.

His path to Atos, André Galvão’s team, began in 2019 with a training camp at the team’s headquarters in San Diego, while still a purple belt. At brown belt he won the open class at Pans and took silver at Worlds in 2022, and in 2023 he won double gold at Pans and the super-heavyweight title at Worlds. He got his black belt from Galvão on June 5, 2023, at age 22.

In his first two seasons as a black belt he did not reach the podium at Europeans, Pans, the Brazilian Nationals or Worlds. His first major title came in no-gi, at No-Gi Worlds in December 2025 in Las Vegas: three wins on points at super-heavyweight, the last one 17-2 over Austin Morris. In September 2026 he competed at ADCC in Poland and was submitted by Kaynan Duarte in the first round of the 99 kg (218 lb) division.