Melqui Galvão Jiu-Jitsu teammates Fabricio Andrey and Diogo 'Baby Shark' Reis are among the favorites in the 19-deep featherweight division coming to the IBJJF European Championships on January 28-29.

Representing the same team, the athletes expect to be on separate sides of their shared bracket, and would only meet in the finals.

While many teammates have opted to close out in the finals — refusing to fight and deciding who wins via gentlemen's agreement — Andrey, the 2021 IBJJF World Champion, said he intends to compete against his teammate if they meet in the bracket.

"I'll try to submit him because Diogo won in ADCC and in ADCC Trials, too," Fabricio Andrey told FloGrappling.

This wouldn't be the first time the two Brazilian superstars have competed against each other. Reis submitted Andrey in the semifinal at the 1st 2022 South American ADCC Trials via heel hook, going on to win the tournament.

Andrey later qualified for ADCC, where once again, in the quarterfinal, he ran into teammate Diogo Reis. Reis won the second match via decision, again moving on to win the tournament.

"I need to submit him and, 'ok, man, now we are friends," Andrey joked.

While Reis has been the more successful of the two in no-gi competition, Andrey is the more decorated of the two in the gi.

Both athletes won their respective divisions at the 2022 Brasileiros. But only Andrey has won an IBJJF black belt world title (2021). Reis took third place at the 2022 IBJJF World Championships in the light featherweight division last year. 

Andrey added that he intends to compete at each of the four major IBJJF tournaments in 2023, hoping to complete the grand slam. His focus, he said, is to earn his second world title.