UFC Vegas 53: Krzysztof Jotko Was Sick, Injured Before Cirkunov Fight

Las Vegas, NV – Coming off a very close split-decision win in Oct. 2021 UFC middleweight Krzysztof Jotko returns to the octagon at UFC Vegas 53 against Gerald Meerschaert.

Speaking to reporters at media day on Tuesday Jotko explained that he went into his last bout, a win over Misha Cirkunov, compromised.

“The last time, last fight, for me was two fights. Between the Misha Cirkunov and between my body because I was very, very terrible condition this time. I was sick, I was vomit for camp, I broke my ribs four weeks before the fight. And I still showed up, and I still win the fight. This time I’m very confident about myself because I’m healthy, I’m ready, and I want to be here and win this fight,” Jotko said.

Jotko’s team had asked him to postpone the fight with all of the issues he was having, but none louder than his wife.

“My wife was the first person who said ‘No, don’t go! You can’t fight! You can’t even go to train good.’ But I said no. I know who I am, I know I can fight, and I can win with Misha and that’s what I do,” said Jotko.

With about six months in between fights one would think Jotko took time off to heal, but that wasn’t necessarily true.

“No, I was ready to fight. I started to train in January to fight in February. I had even offered to fight Alex Pereira, but he pull out of the fight with me. He chose a different opponent so I was just waiting for another offer to fight. And the fight is here right now,” Jotko said.

The fight is now against Meerschaert who is riding a three-fight win streak coming into Saturday’s bout.

“I think he’s a very tough guy. He’s more jiu jitsu guy, human blanket. I know will be hard fight. He fight before with Polish people, he choked them both, and he choked Makhmud Muradov. They tried to make a fight with me two or three times. He was injured or I was injured and we never can fight. I know he’s a tough guy, but I was training with the toughest guy like him like Marcus Buchecha, Antonio Carlos Junior, or Jonny Eblen, with the super monsters. So I don’t care what he brings to the octagon.” Jotko said.

“I’ll be there. Big explosive there this weekend.”

With a win this weekend Jotko would extend his win streak to two, but in a middleweight division looking for contenders for the champion Israel Adesanya, he could be just a couple fights away from a title shot.

“I focus for this fight, but in the future I want to fight with somebody from my ranking, or maybe run it back with Uriah Hall. I was fighting him, I beat his ass five rounds, and he throw one punch and knocked me out. This would be good to get back,” said Jotko.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 53 media day appearance from Krzysztof Jotko above. The event takes place this Saturday, April 30, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. More coverage can be found below.