In his second middleweight fight, Bryan Barbarena took on divisional veteran Geralt ‘GM3’ Meerschaert to open UFC Vegas 88’s main card.
As a pure grappler vs striker matchup, fans knew Meerschaert would look to take down brawler ‘Bam-Bam’ Barbarena, leaving it up to the former welterweight to defend the takedowns of the much taller man and his twenty-seven career submissions. In the end that grappling was enough to get it done. Gerald left the cage with a win and more, as GM3 tied Anderson ‘the Spider’ Silva for most finishes in UFC middleweight history.
Meerschaert pressed forward in this southpaw duel while Barbarena circled the cage and looked for leg kicks. As the submission artist in the matchup, GM3 shot his first takedown two minutes in. He landed it and then got on the back with one hook in when Bryan tried to get back to his feet. However, Barbarena stopped the second hook and used the fence to stand back up. On the feet he landed a 1-2 right after that. Still, Gerald landed a takedown into a strong top half-guard position with ninety seconds left in the round. He hunted for a potential Kimura, to no avail. Bryan scrambled back up once more, with Meerschaert thinking about a guillotine choke but letting it go right before the round ended.
Once again GM3 took down Barbarena after a competitive opening striking portion of the round. Bryan refused to be fully flattened out but was controlled from half-guard for a minute before passing to the back with one hook in again, as Bam-Bam got his back to the fence. This time Barbarena was not able to free himself and Meerschaert got both hooks in. Gerald hunted the rear-naked choke and put an incredible squeeze on Bryan. Although he did not get the forearm completely under the chin, he was able to put his foe to sleep entirely.
Though Barbarena showed incredible toughness in refusing to tap, he still left the cage with his second loss in as many middleweight UFC fights. Meerschaert reached his 28th career submission, but more importantly tied legend Anderson Silva for most finishes in UFC middleweight history.
Official Result: Gerald Meerschaert def. Bryan Barbarena by Submission (rear-naked choke), Round 2, 4:23
