Nicholas Meregali, exclusive UFC BJJ athlete and one of the most decorated grapplers on the planet, appeared on the MMA Hoje podcast this month to announce that he has ‘zero desire’ to compete at ADCC 2026. His reasons were geographic.
‘Dude, honestly, I think it’s a hassle to go to Poland, man, it’s the end of the world,’ Meregali reportedly told the hosts. ‘Not even a capital city, a city in the countryside. I don’t know, a 3-hour drive.’
To be clear: Meregali is allowed to compete. UFC BJJ has granted its exclusive athletes permission to enter ADCC 2026. He is not banned. He is not restricted. He could register tomorrow. He simply does not want to, because Krakow is not Warsaw.
The TAURON Arena in Krakow — a 15,000-seat venue hosting the largest submission grappling event in history — is apparently not up to the standards of a man who competes at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, a building that seats 1,000 and shares a parking lot with a gas station. Krakow, for the record, is a UNESCO World Heritage city, home to 800,000 people, Jagiellonian University (founded in 1364), and a thriving nightlife scene. It is not ‘the countryside.’ But it’s not a capital city, so it doesn’t count.
Meregali followed his declaration of total disinterest with the following sentence: ‘Maybe I’ll compete, maybe I’ll keep winning, and then suddenly I’ll get excited. But possibly not.’
So: zero desire. None. Except maybe some. But probably not. Unless things go well. Then possibly. But no.
This is the same man who, on a separate podcast in February, endorsed UFC BJJ as the future of professional grappling, described CJI as entering the industry ‘to divide it in a negative way,’ and attributed his early career losses to other competitors using steroids while he stayed clean. He is currently coaching at Kingsway — the gym run by Gordon Ryan and John Danaher — and is being paid a reported $97,000 to $155,000 annually by a promotion whose parent company settled a $335 million antitrust lawsuit.
But Krakow is too far.
Meanwhile, UFC lightweight Mateusz Gamrot — a Polish fighter ranked seventh in the world — has accepted an invitation to compete at ADCC 2026 in his home country. He will presumably manage the 3-hour drive.
Tickets for the event range from $54 to $972. Polish fans have called the prices ‘completely out of reality,’ which is fair. What is also out of reality is dismissing the biggest event in your sport because it’s in a city you apparently Googled for thirty seconds.
Gamrot is expected to arrive on time. His drive is under three hours.