Meregali and Pena Are Fighting Again. Fourteen Days Before ADCC. What Could Go Wrong.

Nicholas Meregali and Felipe Pena (Preguica) have already done this twice. They have split the series. So the logical next step, two weeks before the most important grappling competition on the planet, is to do it again.

Spaten Fight Night 3 takes place August 29 at the Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu in São Paulo. Meregali and Pena will meet under BJJ Stars rules, no-gi, three five-minute rounds. Fourteen days later, on September 12-13, both men will fly to Krakow for the ADCC World Championship. Meregali competes at 88kg. Pena competes at 99kg+. Neither is dodging anyone. Both are walking toward the biggest stage in the sport, and on the way, they're stopping to settle unfinished business with each other.

It's either the most confident thing you've ever seen or the most self-sabotaging. Possibly both.

The History

Their first meeting was 2018 IBJJF Worlds in gi. Meregali won. It was the kind of match that establishes dominance for years — the kind of win you point to when someone asks why you're the guy. The gi context meant grips mattered. Meregali's technical precision in that environment was on full display. He controlled the match, controlled the pace, and emerged with the gold. It was a statement: I am better at this.

Then they didn't fight for five years.

They crossed paths again in 2023 in a no-gi match. This time Pena won. So the series is tied. The rubber match has been sitting in the back of both their minds since 2023, three years of unresolved beef, the kind of thing you think about during guard work at 6 a.m. The context shift — gi to no-gi — fundamentally changed the matchup. No lapels, no collar control, pure positioning and pressure. Pena exploited that difference.

Meregali has since become one of the most dangerous heavyweight grapplers in the world. His submission game is relentless. He's not the guy doing flashy leg locks at high speed or dropping guards looking for heel hooks. He's the guy who locks you into something and you realize too late you can't get out. His guard passing combines patience with technical precision — he'll establish position, control your hips, and move forward with methodical pressure. Once he takes your back, the choke follows. It's not a race. It's inevitable.

His guard work is built on angles and weight distribution, not on athleticism. He won't muscle you. He'll place you in a position where movement is limited and options narrow. Watch him against high-level pressure passers: he doesn't scramble. He waits. He reads. He counters from position rather than from panic.

Pena is a completely different animal. He's bigger (99kg+ means he could be anywhere from 220 to 240+ pounds depending on weight cut timing). His game is based on presence and pressure. He doesn't need to be perfect technically because his mass is doing half the work. He'll control position, move methodically, and wait for you to make the mistake. When you're under that much pressure from someone that size, mistakes come fast. Desperation follows quickly. He's a pressure cooker — you can't think clearly under his weight and positioning.

In their 2023 match, Pena's pressure worked. Meregali hadn't encountered a grappler built like Pena in that specific no-gi context. The absence of lapels meant he couldn't control the collar or sleeves to manage distance. It was pure body position and leverage. Pena exploited that difference. But that was three years ago. Meregali has been in the lab. He's faced more heavy, aggressive grapplers. He's studied the footage. He's adjusted.

The Timing Question

Two weeks is not a long time between matches, especially high-intensity no-gi matches. Your body needs recovery. Soft tissue damage, muscle fatigue, CNS recovery — these don't happen fast. Your mind needs recovery too. You need to process what happened, what worked, what didn't, and adjust.

Meregali and Pena don't have two weeks for any of that. They have two weeks to fly to Krakow, get acclimated to the venue and temperature and judges, make weight if needed, and prepare for completely different opponents. Meregali's ADCC draw will be someone else — probably someone faster, probably someone smaller, definitely someone he hasn't faced in recent memory. Pena's draw at 99kg+ could be anyone — it's a deep, dangerous division. The matches at Spaten Fight Night won't predict ADCC matchups. They already know who they're facing.

So why do it?

One reading: this is a confidence play. Both men believe they're going to win ADCC regardless, so knocking off your rival two weeks beforehand is just good prep. It's a reality check. It's proof you're ready. You go out there, settle the beef, and then you show up in Krakow fresh and proven.

Another reading: they're both talented enough that they don't think a single match will derail their ADCC preparation. Pena especially has nothing to lose. A win over Meregali 14 days before ADCC would be massive psychological momentum walking into the championship. A loss doesn't hurt because he's about to face someone different anyway. For Meregali, a win validates everything he's worked on since 2023. A loss would still leave two weeks to mentally reset.

The riskier reading: this is necessary. One or both of them feels like they have to prove something right now, not in Krakow. They need the win before the world sees them at ADCC. They need to exorcise the ghost of their last match. That urgency can cost you. Injuries happen. Confidence gets shaken. You land wrong in the first two minutes and suddenly your ADCC camp has a damaged shoulder or a hip pointer. Recovery time is two weeks. At elite level, that's not recovery time for an injury. That's "manage the pain and hope."

The Tactical Layer

Watch Meregali's performances over the last 18 months and you see the same pattern: deadly in top position, patient with back control, methodical in guard work. He scores through positional dominance and submission finishing. He's not a point-scorer. He's a finisher.

Pena's strength is his ability to stay on top and dictate pace while maintaining dominant position. If Meregali ends up defending bottom against Pena, he can't panic and start scrambling three-dimensional. Pena rewards desperation with more pressure. Meregali has to stay technical, stay calm, stay in the angles.

The format matters. Three five-minute rounds in no-gi is a marathon. It favors stamina and consistency over explosiveness. Meregali can go five rounds without gassing. Pena can go five rounds under pressure and not tire — he's built for long, heavy matches. This format doesn't break either of them. It determines who executes better.

At ADCC, Meregali will probably face someone smaller and faster than Pena. Pena will likely face someone who doesn't have the same weight advantage he enjoys domestically. Neither match will be a carbon copy of August 29. But muscle memory is real. Your body learns how to move against certain defensive patterns, certain pressure profiles. If Meregali figures out Pena on August 29, he carries that adjustment knowledge with him. Same in reverse. That's not nothing.

What This Signals

The grappling world splits on this. Half think it's perfect prep. Half think it's insane. Nobody's wrong. Both things are true.

The guys themselves seem unbothered. Neither has talked about canceling. Neither is pretending this is anything other than what it is: unfinished business that doesn't wait for a convenient calendar. The sport respects that. Two guys, two weeks before the world's biggest event, saying "I don't care if the timing is complicated. I want another shot at you."

Here's what makes this story: it says something about how confident both guys are. Not performed confidence. The kind of confidence that makes you willing to risk the two most important weeks of your career on a match that doesn't matter in terms of rankings or qualification.

Meregali believes he's grown enough since 2023 that Pena can't beat him again, even with fresh preparation. Pena believes he can go into ADCC sharp and ready after a match that brings him back into form.

One of them is going to be wrong. The other is going to have proof 14 days before Krakow that his camp is working. That's not nothing. That's a massive psychological advantage walking into a sport where the margins are inches.

August 29 will tell us something real about both of them. Not which one is better — they already know that from 2023 — but which one's ADCC preparation is actually on track. And for ADCC, that's worth the risk of the timing.

This post was generated by AI. Sources are linked below. Follow @bjj-problems on YouTube for the weekly video digest.

Sources

• BJJ Heroes - Meregali and Pena Competition History
• UFC / ADCC World Championship Coverage