In April, Jiu-Jitsu champions Nicholas Meregali and Melqui Galvão (Mica Galvao’s father and coach) engaged in a heated exchange on social media, which caused a stir in the Jiu-Jitsu community on Instagram before and after BJJ Stars 10.

During his appearance on the “MMA Hoje” podcast, Meregali, the 2022 Jiu-Jitsu world absolute champion, recalled the controversy. Meregali, a fan of Israel Adesanya, had posted a photo of Adesanya after his victory over Brazilian Alex Poatan at UFC 287 in April.

The post generated criticism from the Brazilian public, and Meregali responded by indirectly referencing Mica Galvão’s suspension for a year by USADA after testing positive in the anti-doping test at the 2022 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship.

“When I posted a photo of Adesanya, when he won against Poatan, they  attacked me and tried to create an argument to criticize. I then said: ‘The right thing is to use anabolic st*roids since childhood and the wrong thing is that I support an athlete who is Australian and not even American’. (Note: Adesanya was born in Nigeria and fights for New Zealand). Then the war began,” said Meregali, who continued:

“Mica is an athlete, it’s nice to see him fight, he has a solid brand. Everyone likes him. But it’s a specific situation that makes me crazy, it’s a lot of lies. (…)  His father, Melqui, called me a chicken sh*t in the media, and then the Brazilian public liked it. (…) Do not try to argue with wrong points, because ignorance and hypocrisy does not work, ”he commented.

Meregali stated that he was frustrated with the situation and accused Mica’s father of spreading lies about the use of clomiphene and its metabolites. Meregali also expressed his displeasure with the BJJ Stars event and the controversy it generated.

Some people from the BJJ community have made the claim that Kaynan wanted to hurt Mica.
Nicholas Meregali, however, is having none of that.

He shared his opinion on social media, publicly making fun of people who say that Kaynan had any bad intentions (translated from Portuguese):

Kanynan went into a Sankaku (legal move), which – during the transition from sweep to submission – earned him a disqualification.

People are calling him a cheater and that he went for the break. And that Mica lost because of it.
If Kaynan wanted to break Mica’s knee in the position he would have broken it, that’s the truth, he wasn’t mean.

He also pointed towards Mica’s PED use:

And judging that the move was absurd cheating against Mica just shows you’re a ret*rd.
Mica used clomiphene to cheat and mask steroid use, and this was not seen as cheating.

People are experiencing Jiu-Jitsu as if it were a Globo soap opera. The people’s lack of neurons is very funny.

Meregali’s opinion caused an immediate reaction from Melqui Galvão , Mica Galvão’s father and instructor, who mocked Nicholas and criticized the world champion’s posture: “(laughs) Why is this cheap copy of Gordon so ugly? (Ryan). You don’t fight in Brazil anymore, remember? Unlike Mica Galvão, who loves to fight here in Brazil. His career is being made in the United States. You said that yourself to Fepa (Lopes, BJJ Stars organizer).

The choice was yours! He chose to deny his origins, but you couldn’t expect anything more from a guy who denies the teacher (who) led from blue to black, right? So, don’t be sad, no, because Mica is loved and you’re just a chicken dick. Just do like him. Be polite and kind to the public, learn to have character and the public will value you more. My conversation with you ends here, I am not a psychologist to treat the mentally ill”, shot Melqui, who received another response from Nicholas Meregali in the sequence.

“The funniest thing is to see you talk about respecting the public having built Mica’s career based on steroids since forever. Can you imagine being a child who uses hormones to beat another child? Or better yet, who uses hormones as a child to be able to fight adults (laughs). This seems a little disrespectful and disrespectful to the public, right?”, countered Nicholas Meregali, who continued:

“From blue belt to black belt, Mário Reis and I have enormous respect for each other and we never said a word badly about each other, that’s the respect we need and he understood my need to leave. And about denying my origins, I don’t do that, I’m just living abroad and developing other ‘skills’ that are necessary for my career. And just to remind you, using indigenous peoples to build the brand and openly vote for Bolsonaro? That doesn’t have much connection, no (laughs). Maybe you just like what gives ‘hype’, rather than values ​​(laughs)”.