Nicholas Meregali has just challenged both Yuri Simoes and Mason Fowler to matches on the same event, with him offering $50,000 of his own money up as the prize if he loses. Meregali has been in incredible form lately but a pair of matches against these two elite competitors would certainly be a tough challenge for anyone. After all, Fowler is a two-time ADCC Trials winner who holds wins over some of the best competitors in the world and Simoes had already won two different ADCC weight classes before he became the absolute champion at ADCC 2022. The two Caio Terra students would present different challenges to Meregali as well.
Fowler is a fresh opponent and being a little lighter than Meregali he will likely be able to push the pace more than his usual opponents in the heaviest weight classes. Fowler is also known for being very well-rounded with fantastic guard-passing, so these factors combined would make him a dangerous opponent if Meregali ends up on his back. Simoes on the other hand has a fair bit of history with Meregali stemming from ADCC 2022, as they actually met two times in that tournament. Simoes was able to beat Meregali in the final of the absolute division to claim that title, while Meregali won a referee decision in the semi-final of the under 99kg division.
While facing both Yuri Simoes and Mason Fowler would be a massive challenge for anyone, Nicholas Meregali has been in fantastic form since ADCC 2022 and it’s understandable that he might be feeling confident. Not only has Meregali not lost a single match since that tournament, but he’s actually submitted 13 of his 15 opponents too. Most recently he was seen submitting former ADCC world champion Matheus Diniz at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6, the same event where Fowler put on an equally impressive performance and managed to submit fellow ADCC veteran Pedro Marinho.
Nicholas Meregali issued the challenge to Yuri Simoes and Mason Fowler for back-to-back matches in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4WQdWSpBay/