Along with his second-round submission victory in opposition to Edmen Shahbazyan at UFC Vegas 96 on Saturday, Gerald Meerschaert now has probably the most finishes in middleweight historical past, overtaking a file as soon as held by the nice Anderson Silva.
‘GM3’ needed to dig deep after discovering himself in huge bother throughout the second stanza. Shahbazyan delivered an onslaught of strikes on the bottom, focusing on Meerschaerts head with fists and elbows. Persevering with to maneuver and shield himself, referee Mark Smith allowed the motion to proceed. Earlier than lengthy, the barrage of blows got here to a halt as Shahbazyan appeared to gasoline himself out going for the end.
Ultimately, Shahbazyan allowed Meerschaert again to his ft which gave ‘GM3’ the chance to safe a simple takedown. As soon as he was on high, it was only a matter of time.
The Racine, Wisconsin native moved into 3/4 mount and locked in an arm triangle that pressured Shahbazyan to faucet out.
Along with breaking Silva’s longstanding file, Meerschaert additionally stored his 100% end charge intact below the UFC banner.
Gerald Meerschaert has much more fights forward after record-breaking efficiency
Requested about his accomplishment throughout the post-fight press convention, ‘GM3’ admitted that being talked about in the identical sentence as somebody like ‘The Spider’ is fairly cool, however he nonetheless has much more work to do contained in the Octagon.
”It’s cool to say, I don’t give it some thought an excessive amount of proper now,” Meerschaert mentioned. “It’s simply type of one battle at a time, and I want I may provide you with greater than that as a result of it’s a cool factor. Honestly, if I sit right here and cease and provides myself just a little pat on the again, like, that’s superior — simply to have my title in the identical dialog or sentence as any individual like Anderson Silva or Demian Maia and guys like that, that’s nice — however I received a number of battle left in me, I’ve received much more fights to go” (h/t Sportskeeda).
Meerschaert has submitted 29 of his opponents in 37 profession victories with one other six wins coming by the use of knockout making him probably the most prolific finishers in all of MMA.
