Gerald Meerschaert became the first man to stop Deron Winn at UFC 248.
Las Vegas, NV — If UFC 248 was a bit of a grudge match for Gerald Meerschaert and Deron Winn, it was just a little one-sided.
“I think he took it a little more personally than I did,” Meerschaert told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“Usually I don’t talk any trash. But me and my guys at the gym talk reckless to each other every single day,” Meerschaert explained. “Especially the younger guys like Brendan Allen. I can’t tell you how many times that guy has come into the gym calling me four letter words, and every day I’m like ‘I’m going to kill you. Legitimately going to kill you.’ So I’m pretty used to it. I was hyped up and ready to go. But I was still pretty positive about it. For me it kind of helped, but for him, I have no idea.”
Giving some background on the feud, Meerschaert explained that “Before [Winn] got in the UFC, he tried to call me out and talk reckless. And it didn’t happen.”
Winn “had some things to say about that,” Meerschaert added. “Then when it did come to pass that we got a chance to fight, he was quiet, and I was just talking all kinds of reckless sh*t all the time. I made memes about this dude, I think I really got under his skin.” While he was having fun, Meerschaert isn’t sure whether Winn really did take it personally. But he gave his opponent his due after the bout. “I told him ‘dude, you’re really tough, I talked a lot of sh*t, but that was a good fight, you’ve got my respect.'”
As the fight progressed, Meerschaert began to find his openings, finally forcing Winn to move in for a takedown. The end result was a third-round rear-naked choke submission, which moved the 32-year old Wisconsin native to 30-12 as a pro.
It’s a performance, said Meerschaert, that “wasn’t bad. He’s tougher than I gave him credit for, and he’d never been finished. So it was one of my better ones.”
Meerschaert employed a bit of a different stance during the bout, more upright. It came down to his opponent’s height (Winn, despite having competed at light heavyweight, is noticeably short even for middleweight). And his striking. “I figured he would try to take me down a little bit more than he did. And even if he didn’t take me down, all of his strikes kind of come off that wrestler shot movement, where he’s dipping and then coming over the top.”
As for what comes next, Meerschaert admitted he can barely keep track of the top ten at 185lbs, let alone call anyone out. “I’m just here to beat to beat people up, so whoever they want to give me, I’m down.”
Watch the full UFC 248 post-fight media scrum with Gerald Meerschaert above!
