Gerald Meerschaert and Edmen Shahbazyan are set to kick off this weekend’s UFC Vegas 96 main card live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The UFC middleweight division’s all-time leader in submission wins makes his return to the cage off the heels of yet another rear-naked choke victory, effectively ending Bryan Barberena’s run in the promotion. Meerschaert (36-17) looks to build some momentum with another finish over a game opponent in Shahbazyan (13-4) this weekend.
“I think it’s a good matchup for me. I think I could put a pace on him,” Meerschaert said in a recent interview with Cageside Press. “I get stronger as the fight goes on, traditionally he seems to fade – though I’m not going to expect that. I know that I’ve trained for 15 minutes of war if it has to be that.”
While Meerschaert is very confident in his ability to put Shahbazyan away this weekend, he remains realistic and level-headed, breaking down where he feels he excels, while admitting areas where his opponent may have had the upper hand in the past.
“I feel like I have the edge in cardio and the grappling, on paper he probably has the edge in power and stand-up,” Meerschaert said. “You never know until you get in there. It’s the UFC – Everybody is tough… We’ll see what happens.”
Meerschaert also credits his body more than anything for getting him to the dance time and time again.
“I still train hard. There are certain days where training feels way harder than the fight. But I know how to train hard and effectively, and still keep myself fresh. I think some of it, I don’t have genetic gifts in terms of crazy speed or crazy knockout power, or whatever like that, but one thing you can say looking at my career, my body is resilient,” noted GM3. “In the sense that, knock on wood, I haven’t had any major injuries, I haven’t come out of a fight with anything crazy. No broken bones, nothing like that, so I think that’s my one saving grace, is that my body’s pretty tough.”
Meerschaert hopes to earn a ranked opponent in his next appearance if he’s able to get past Shahbazyan, and Shahbazyan is likely in around the same spot in terms of entering the middleweight rankings. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in this compelling stylistic clash.
Gerald Meerschaert takes on Edmen Shahbazyan on the main card of UFC Vegas 96 on August 24, 2024.
