UFC Vegas 96 has added yet another middleweight fight scheduled for the UFC Apex. Edmen Shahbazyan will take on Gerald Meerschaert on August 24, 2024 in a three-round, main card fight.
News of the fight was first announced by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport on Friday, across his various social media accounts. Both fighters confirmed the booking on their respective Instagram Story.
Edmen Shahbazyan (13-4) is 6-4 with the UFC. A 2018 Contender Series product, Shahbazyan started his career hot, accumulating a three-fight win streak and finishing all three opponents. Edmen would then embark on a three-fight skid prompting him to leave his longtime gym, Glendale Fighting Club, in favor of Xtreme Couture. The 26-year-old is now 2-1 since switching gyms though he has seen a notable step back in competition. His most recent time out was a pivotal victory via first-round finish against AJ Dobson back in March.
Gerald Meerschaert (36-17) is a submission specialist and 20-fight veteran of the UFC. Meerschaert has faced a lot of names at 185lbs. and finished all of his victories, including 10 by submission. The 36-year-old has become something of a litmus test for solid fighters in recent years, losing to the likes of Krzysztof Jotko, Joe Pyfer and Andre Petroski since April of 2022. Gerald has won just two of his last five fights including his most recent bout, a second-round rear naked choke victory against Bryan Barberena, back in March. His other win came against Bruno Silva via third round guillotine nearly two years ago.
With Shahbazyan vs. Meerschaert, UFC Vegas 96 now has two scheduled main card fights and five fights announced in total at the writing of this article. The line up for the APEX card is as follows:
- Roman Kopylov vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Gerald Meerschaert
- Dennis Buzukja vs. Danny Silva
- Jose Medina vs. Zach Reese
- Viacheslav Borshchev vs. James Llontop
