Nicholas Meregali has just announced that he’s planning to have 4 more matches across May and June of this year, while he prepares for ADCC 2024. He will be receiving an automatic invite to the world’s most prestigious no gi tournament as a result of his superb debut performance back at ADCC 2022, where he won both a silver and a bronze medal. Although he has yet to announce who he will be competing against in any of these matches, they will no doubt be against some of the best competitors on the planet and they might even set up potential rematches for when ADCC comes around.
Meregali has been using his social media presence to challenge opponents much more often in recent years, so there may be some hints there as to who he will be competing against. Most recently he challenged both Yuri Simoes and Mason Fowler to matches at the same event, although it’s unlikely that any serious professional grappler would accept that specific challenge. It is likely that they would both be interested in separate matches against him though, although Simoes is currently on his way back to full health following a shoulder surgery. That just leaves Mason Fowler, who would undoubtedly love the opportunity to add a win over a huge name like Meregali to his resume.
Meregali did pick out 5 specific opponents who he wants to face in 2024 right at the beginning of the year as well, and he’s already got his wish for a match against one of them. After getting a submission win over Matheus Diniz at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6, he only has 4 names left on his list for the year. Among those names are a pair of rematches that look quite probable too, against Kaynan Duarte and Victor Hugo. The final two potential opponents he was after are both from B-Team Jiu-Jitsu, as he included fellow ADCC silver medalists Craig Jones and Nicky Rodriguez too.
Nicholas Meregali revealed that he’s planning for 4 matches prior to ADCC 2024 in a recent story that was posted to his official Instagram account: