Nicholas Meregali has been on a quest to prove himself as the greatest gi grappler on the planet lately and it appears as though Felipe Pena is one of a handful of challenges that might interest him. The two have actually met on the mats once before, but it was all the way back in 2018 in the quarter-final of the absolute division at the IBJJF World Championship. Meregali won that match by submission, locking up an arm-in ezekiel choke in order to finish the fight. That was over 5 years ago though of course, and quite a lot has changed for both men since then.
Both men have added further world titles to their collection and Meregali has made a big change to his training regime by making the move to New Wave Jiu-Jitsu and taking up no gi competition as well. He appears to have hit a whole new level since moving to Austin, Texas to train under John Danaher and alongside Gordon Ryan. Nicholas Meregali has been proving it on the mats as well, dominating some of the best grapplers on the planet over the last year and even challenging Felipe Pena to a rematch to prove a point.
Felipe Pena answered the challenge that Nicholas Meregali recently issued to him in a post to his official Instagram account:
“Nicholas recently gave an interview saying he wanted to fight me in the gi… I’m currently focused on no gi, training, evolving and waiting for my fight against Gordon (Ryan) to happen. Until then, I really had no plans to put on the gi, but since Gordon was come back fighting but apparently he’s avoiding fighting me, I’d like to challenge Nicholas to have a no gi fight in the coming months and a gi fight at the beginning of next year. A 2 fight contract! What’s up Nicholas Meregali are you up for it?”
It’s understandable that Pena is spending all his time focusing on his fourth match with Gordon Ryan, as the pair were supposed to meet earlier this year before Ryan pulled out of the match. This match represents the opportunity for Pena to settle the score once and for all, so it’ll likely be one of the defining moments in his professional grappling career. This isn’t the first time that the pair have discussed a potential rematch either, and Pena has been consistent in his desire to compete in no gi.
Nicholas Meregali gave his response to the offer of a gi and no gi match with Felipe Pena in a post to his official Instagram account:
“I just made the most impressive move in the history of Jiu Jitsu, 2 fights, Gi and No Gi, against the top 2 best fighters in the world in their respective areas, in just 21 days. In a week or so, after I recover my body and plan my next steps, I will decide if you deserve a chance or not. I have the crown and I make the calls here.”
So although Nicholas Meregali didn’t jump at the opportunity to book these two matches with Felipe Pena, he didn’t shut down the idea either. It seems like this would be a great opportunity for a promotion like Who’s Number One to create a storyline over the course of several months and build up two interesting headline matches for different events.
