Fans might get to see an excellent superfight soon as Nicholas Meregali and Felipe Pena have been debating a future match between them. The pair have actually met once already, all the way back at the 2018 edition of the IBJJF world championship in the quarter-final of the absolute division. Meregali actually won that match by submission when he locked up an arm-in ezekiel choke, although he had to settle for a bronze medal in the division after that.
Fans thought that they might get to see the rematch between these two at the IBJJF World Championship 2021, as they were supposed to meet in the final of the absolute division. Unfortunately though, the match never came to fruition as Meregali was disqualified from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct and Pena left with the gold medal. That would have given Pena his third consecutive gold medal at the world’s most prestigious gi tournament, but the victory didn’t last long at all. He actually failed an in-competition PEDs test and was stripped of his title, something that Meregali didn’t forget to mention when he called him out:
“There wasn’t the 2021 fight because I was disqualified and on top of that you lose the title for doping. Let’s do this fight and see who will be the 2021 Absolute Champion. The same $20,000 I bet for the 2023 champion is on the table to fight you. The legend ‘Preguica’ wouldn’t run away from this fight.”
The bet Meregali is referring to is the challenge he publicly issued after defeating Pedro Marinho at Who’s Number One. A rematch between Nicholas Meregali and Felipe Pena is an interesting prospect for several reasons even before that amount of money is thrown around. They haven’t been able to come to an agreement on terms just yet though, as Pena has something slightly different in mind:
“Like I said, I’m only training no gi and aim to beat his friend (Gordon Ryan) once he stops with the sh*t. As you said yourself you are training only no gi we can marry that 20k in no gi fight no problem. I know you want the stage but you’re like a spoiled little girl in adolescence. Perform a hakuma matata ritual to calm you down.”
The initial call-out that Nicholas Meregali made to Felipe Pena and the response in the comments can be found below and on his official Instagram account:
