"Finally we are not alone" - Nicholas Meregali hails rising stars Tye and Kade Ruotolo for helping the growth of BJJ

Nicholas Meregali believes that Tye and Kade Ruotolo are helping jiu-jitsu grow as a sport by being true to themselves, much like he is.

The Ruotolo brothers and Meregali were featured in a jiu-jitsu summit for Houzn Jiu-Jitsu Academy in South Carolina. Meregali, who recently won the IBJJF Black Belt Open Class Championship, believes that when it comes to inspiring people and fans, an athlete’s personality is more important than their accolades.

On Instagram, Meregali shared a photo of himself along with Tye and Kade Ruotolo and explained his perspective on how an athlete can help a sport grow.

The first few lines of his post read as follows:

“Finally, we are not alone. You can build a successful career, make a lot of money, and be famous by winning titles, but you can't help the sport grow by hiding who you really are. I know a lot of people are afraid of judgment for showing who their true personality is, it's hard I agree, even more in a world where everyone judges hard. Otherwise, all the biggest sports are made by real personalities. You can say what you want, but if you list every single athlete that has helped their sport grow, you will see one specific trait in common, they were real. They didn't give fake interviews, they didn't do politics, they expressed their views, they always behaved differently, they went against the standards, etc.."

While Meregali understands that other athletes could have a different perspective in terms of promoting their sport, he is happy that the Ruotolo brothers are being real in everything that they do.

The last few lines of his post read as follows:

“I'm not saying athletes are wrong and I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just saying that in other sports we know who did it differently and helped their industries. We have great moments coming up and I'm happy to have guys like @ruotolobrothersjiujitsu on my side building the sport.”

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Tye and Kade Ruotolo are taking their talents to the global stage

Tye and Kade Ruotolo are showcasing their talents not only in the biggest grappling contests in the world but on the global stage of ONE Championship as well.

Kade defeated Japanese martial arts legend Shinya Aoki in his promotional debut in May 2022’s ONE 157. In the same event, Tye submitted multiple-time BJJ world champion Garry Tonon to claim a USD 50,000 performance bonus in his debut match. A few weeks later, Tye competed in his first IBJJF gi competition as a black belt and went all the way to the final round.

At just 19-years-old, Tye and Kade Ruotolo are certainly going to be names to follow in BJJ for years to come.