Weekly Jiu Jitsu Report: Meregali Makes No Gi Debut; One Championship Announces Galvao and Kelly Matches and Signs Musumeci

It was a busy week in the world of jiu jitsu and submission grappling. Below is a roundup of some of the biggest news of the week.

Meregali’s No-Gi debut announced for WNO

Nicholas Meregali will make his no gi debut at Who’s #1 on Friday March 25th. The FloGrappling event will be headlined by Mikey Musumeci and Geo Martinez and will feature other elite submission grappling matches as well. Nicholas has been training with John Danaher and Gordon Ryan in Austin, Texas to prepare for this match and for ADCC. His opponent will be Arnaldo Maidana of team Checkmat. Maidana is a 2017 IBJJF No Gi World champion and a 2015 American Jiu Jitsu Nationals champion with the gi. Although Nicholas hasn’t competed in a no-gi match before, you can expect to see many of the skills he spent years developing in the gi transfer over to the no-gi game. 

One Championship announces Galvao and Danielle Kelly matches; Signs Mikey Musumeci

One Championship’s ten-year anniversary One X event will take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday, March 26th. The event will feature a main event fight between Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee and Atomweight Grand Prix champion Stamp. Demetrios “Mighty Mouse” Johnson will take on Rodtang in a ruleset that is partially Muay Thai and partially MMA. In addition to these fights, One has also added submission grappling matches to the card.

In the feature submission grappling event of the night, Andre Galvao will take on Reinier De Ridder in a fifteen-minute match. Galvao is one of the most accomplished BJJ competitors of all time, but Reinier is no slouch as a BJJ grappler himself. Reinier holds both the middleweight and light heavyweight mixed martial arts titles in One. Prior to his MMA career, Reinier was a judoka. He later transitioned to jiu-jitsu and won the Abu Dhabi World Pro as a blue belt and placed second at the IBJJF Europeans as a purple belt. His grappling background has helped him earn ten submissions in MMA.

Danielle Kelly of Silver Fox BJJ will face Mei Yamaguchi in another grappling match at One X. Kelly recently signed to the One roster and had impressive performances in 2021 at WNO and Fury Grappling, among other promotions. Kelly is a leg lock specialist and will look to utilize those skills against the veteran in Yamaguchi. Mei Yamaguchi is a jiu jitsu black belt with a current MMA record of 21-14. In addition to her MMA and jiu jitsu skills, she’s also a talented kickboxer with multiple professional fights.

One Championship also announced the signing of Mikey Musumeci this week. Mikey is a four-time IBJJF World Champion and a No Gi World Champion. Recently, he’s dedicated much more focus to no gi BJJ, taking matches at Who’s #1 and even developing a heel hook variation he calls the Mikey lock. With the move, it appears One is looking to start a professional jiu jitsu circuit. Current jiu jitsu athletes on the roster include the above-mentioned Andre Galvao and Danielle Kelly, Tom DeBlass, and Gordon Ryan. Look for One to add more BJJ athletes to their roster soon and to see more submission grappling matches on their fight cards.

Mica Galvao wins via heel hook in Brazil

Majestic BJJ put on a jiu jitsu super fight show in Brazil headlined by Mica Galvao and Gabriel Costa. Mica is already one of the best black belt competitors in the world, despite still being a teen and a relatively new black belt. He recently won the 77 kg division at the South American ADCC Trials with all submissions. Against Gabriel, Mica earned an inside heel hook victory, continuing his streak of dominance on his way to the ADCC World Championships in September.

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