Nicholas Meregali submitted Kaynan Duarte with a katagatame in the main event at Tezos WNO 19 in Austin, Tx on Thursday night.

Meregali, who took bronze in the -99kg division at ADCC last year, outwrestled the reigning -99kg ADCC champion, putting him to the mat in the late stages of the mat, before proceeding to mount, where he scored the choke submission.

Duarte, who many analysts considered the better wrestler ahead of the match, earned the first takedown, but gave up top position in favor of a leg lock attempt in the first phase of the match.

Meregali escalated his wrestling attempts from there, favoring the snatch single. But it was a late body lock with which he earned the deciding takedown, diving for Duarte's back and landing on top. He passed, mounted, and initiated the choke from there.

Meregali was awarded the Tezos Submission Of The Night Bonus.

Meregali moves to 4-0 on Tezos WNO in no-gi matches, now with a 75% submission rate. Duarte drops to 4-2.

The two titans of the heavyweight division could meet up again at the beginning of September, as they are both scheduled to compete in the IBJJF Absolute Grand Prix eight-man bracket for $40,000.

In the co-main event, Ffion Davies retained her Tezos WNO flyweight tile, defeating challenger Jasmine Rocha via decision in a dominant performance.

Rocha antagonized Davies a day earlier in the press conference, where she said she would submit Davies, and criticizing the champion for her "basic knee cut" style of passing. Davies was eager to use the kneecut during the match. And when she executed, she refused to back away. Once she passed the guard, she maintained mount for the majority of the match, threatening with arm triangle attempts and briefly taking Rocha's back.

Davies is now 2-0 on Tezos WNO, while Rocha falls to 1-1.

Dante Leon won the vacant Tezos WNO lightweight title, submitting Ethan Crelinsten with a sleeperhold style katagatame submission, clinching his second consecutive choke submission in his foray into the lightweight division.

Crelinsten kept the match scrappy in his trademark funky style, but Leon appeared to be on the better side of most exchanges.

In his post match interview, Leon challenged the entire division.

"You have until the end of the year to step up," he said. "If not, we go back to 170 and we take that one, too."

Felipe Pena looked stellar in his return to the WNO mats against Haisam Rida. Pena earned a submission victory via rear naked choke, showing off an unusual amount of wrestling to put the B-Team representative down before passing to the back for submission.

Nicky Ryan defeated Rene Sousa in his first WNO match since 2021, riding Sousa's back for the majority of the match but only finding decision victory.

Andrew Tackett delivered another spectacular performance, submitting Troy Russell after a quick takedown to the back. His victory in 1 minute 53 seconds was the second fastest of the evening.

watch every match here.

Tezos WNO 19: Meregali vs Duarte full results

• Nicholas Meregali def Kaynan Duarte via katagatame (12:47)
• Ffion Davies def Jasmine Rocha via unaimous decision, retains WNO flyweight title
• Dante Leon def Ethan Crelinsten via sleeperhold katagatame (8:06), wins WNO lightweight title
• Felipe Pena def Haisam Rida via rear naked choke (9:21)
• Nicky Ryan def Rene Sousa via unanimous decision
• Andrew Tackett def Troy Russell via rear naked choke (1:53)
• Oliver Taza def Sebastian Rodriguez via unanimous decision
• Carlos Henrique def Ben Eddy via unanimous decision
• Helena Crevar def Healy Dayan via inside heel hook (1:11)
• Achilles Rocha def JB Bechtloff via toe hold (4:06)