Nicholas Meregali and Craig Jones first met in their epic semi-final match of the under 99kg division at the 2022 ADCC world championships, and it was immediately clear that this was a rivalry that was likely to spawn a rematch in the near-future. There was plenty of back-and-forth action between the pair and neither man was able to score any points in order to win a definitive decision. Instead it went to the judges and they declared Jones to be the winner, a decision that the majority of fans at home seemed to agree with as well.
They then shared the podium at the event after Meregali defeated Rafael Lovato Jr in the third-place match, and Jones lost the final to Kaynan Duarte on points. With Meregali training under John Danaher for ADCC 2022 and representing New Wave Jiu-Jitsu at the event, there was already a built-in storyline when he came up against former Danaher student and the founder of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu in Jones. It seems as though Nicholas Meregali and Craig Jones were happy to see that story play out further when they both agreed to a rematch at the upcoming Who’s Number One event on February 25th, 2023.
The match was set to serve as the co-main event underneath another rematch that fans are dying to see, Gordon Ryan v Felipe Pena 4. The event itself will still go ahead as planned and the main event is unaffected, although there has not yet been a new co-main event confirmed for it. The winner of the under 99kg division at ADCC 2022, Kaynan Duarte, has publicly offered to replace Jones against Meregali in February but the challenge was rejected and neither Jones or Meregali will compete at the event.
The news that the Nicholas Meregali v Craig Jones rematch was being postponed was announced in a post to the official Instagram account of FloGrappling:
