The semifinal match between Nicholas Meregali and Erberth Santos resulted in a decisive, but rather disappointing finish that will see Meregali advance to the finals at the Spyder Invitational.
Meregali immediately pulled guard, and after a brief attempt at passing, Santos stayed on his knees and teased a straight ankle lock before Meregali was able to get the sweep and maintain top position despite an energetic scramble led by Santos. Another scramble led to Santos ending up on top and quickly attempting an omoplata that led into a toehold, though Meregali was able to avoid being submitted.
After Meregali avoided Santos’ submission attempts and stepped over Santos to land in top side control, Santos appeared to take issue with something that had happened during the match. He started talking to Meregali, and the two stopped the action to engage in an argument mid-match, for which they were both penalized. At this point, Santos seemed to basically give up and just lay in bottom side control until Meregali got the tap with an Americana.
Meregali will now advance to the finals, where he’ll face Kaynan Duarte after Duarte’s win against Rodolfo Vieira.
