Vitor Freitas 
Nicolas Renier, a Frenchman with a Brazilian spirit, is more than ready to put his grappler skills into practice on the mats of the IBJJF No Gi Worlds, this Friday. Athlete in the master 2 division, middleweight, four-time ADCC trials champion, will seek the title in a group that will promote clashes between 26 athletes.
After facing problems traveling to the United States, the European fighter dealt with bureaucratic visa issues to enter the country, Nicolas reveals that he did not have time to analyze his division.
“There are two guys in my division who are good, Wim Louis Deputter, a Dutchman, I fought him over ten years ago, I’ve beaten him twice. Piter Frank, a Brazilian who has several followers, is also there. These two are at a very good level”, comments Nicolas, before adding:
“I trained the way I could, with children, with the structure of Rio de Janeiro, with my life as an entrepreneur. I’m going to do my best there and I believe I have the potential to do well in the Master 2 division. But a fight is a fight, I’ve already lost to guys I considered inferior to me technically, but in terms of strategy they got the best.”, analyzes the belt- black in an interview with the VF Comunica team.
Nicolas Renier is famous for his entrepreneurial streak, owner of NR Fight Club, he says he found a way to continue managing his business even from a distance and his plans include opening a new gym in Paris.
“You can read 100 books, but it is only practice that will teach you. I tried several things that didn’t work, but I believe I’ve now found an organization method that is working. I intend to open a bigger gym in Paris, but today I realized that I chose the life of a fighter, and I have to embrace this life that is fighting, training, being stronger, competing and continuing to learn until my body can no longer do so.”, says the black-belt in Jiu-Jitsu and Luta Livre.
French fighter trained with Melqui Galvão’s team
Choosing a competitive lifestyle already shows its effects. In an attempt to become more professional and absorb techniques with the sport’s elite. Nicolas Renier did an exchange at Melqui Galvão’s academy, where he absorbed the best of the technique with training partners such as Mica Galvão and Diogo “Baby Shark” Reis.
“With Diogo, Mica and Melqui I’m trying to understand more about how people are thinking about the fight area these days, how they’re training, what their strategy is. It’s too early, you have to work for months and years to see results in the competition. So, I want to learn about today’s professionalism.”, says the athlete who revealed to VF Comunica his intention to move to São Paulo to continue his journey of knowledge with Class A grappling.
Meregali, Grappling and UFC: Nicolas analyzes
Favorite topic for grappling fans as the day of the fight approaches, Nicolas Renier did not fail to give his opinion on the Preguiça x Meregali fight at Fight Pass Invitational 5, next Sunday. According to him, the victory goes to Nicholas Meregali.
“About Meregali and Preguiça, I believe that Meregali will do better. Because he really has a professor, he is training as if he were at the beginning, very seriously, with a lot of desire to overcome himself. Preguiça can show whatever he wants on social media, but he’s training alone, you know? He has no one. I don’t know if there’s really a professor behind there to provide training every day, just like John Danaher is doing with Meregali.”, he says.
Still analyzing fundamental aspects of the sport, Renier believes that the UFC will not invest in grappling for a long time. According to him, who also recalled Dana White’s distance from grappling, No Gi’s rise in the UFC will succumb due to the lack of an idol.
“I don’t believe the UFC will continue with this investment. They need a guy like Gordon Ryan, and you can see that Gordon is starting to compete less. I don’t think there’s anyone like him. There’s Meregali, there’s these guys, but they’re not Gordon Ryan. You can copy, but it’s very difficult.”, concludes Nicolas.
The professor also pointed out that Mica Galvão is the closest to this figure of entertainer with the potential to boost the audience and visibility of grappling.
