Gerald Meerschaert etched his title within the UFC historical past books on Saturday by submitting Edmen Shahbazyan with a nasty arm-triangle choke to earn his twelfth end within the octagon.
Not solely did the come-from-behind win internet Meerschaert a $50,000 Efficiency of the Evening bonus, his fight-ending submission additionally put him one spot forward of UFC legend Anderson Silva for essentially the most finishes in UFC middleweight historical past. It’s a notable accomplishment, little doubt, however as a result of he’s nonetheless actively competing proper now, Meerschaert admits he’s not sitting round ready for the possibility to shine a plaque for his wall at dwelling.
As an alternative, Meerschaert insists he nonetheless has quite a lot of work left to do, which suggests the report he simply set will solely find yourself prolonged even additional into the stratosphere with extra UFC wins.
“It’s cool to say,” Meerschaert stated after UFC Vegas 96. “I don’t give it some thought an excessive amount of proper now. It’s simply sort of one combat at a time, and I want I may offer you greater than that as a result of it’s a cool factor. In truth, if I sit right here and cease and provides myself a little bit pat on the again, like, that’s superior — simply to have my title in the identical dialog or sentence as any individual like Anderson Silva or Demian Maia and guys like that, that’s nice — however I received quite a lot of combat left in me, I’ve received much more fights to go.
“After I cling them up, that shall be a cool factor to throw round, like, ‘I used to be cool again within the day. I received a T-top Firebird.’ It’s a cool factor to say for now, after which after I’m retired, it will likely be enjoyable to inform my children and watch them not care.”
In fact, Meerschaert didn’t break Silva’s report with out going through some severe adversity.
Previous to his submission win, Meerschaert discovered himself in nice hazard after getting blasted with a shot that dropped him to the canvas and prompted Shabazyan to rain down punches on him in hopes for a end. But, as he does, Meerschaert was capable of intestine via a troublesome scenario earlier than staging an awe-inspiring comeback to grab the fight-ending sequence.
In an ideal world, Meerschaert prefers a dominant win just like the submission he used to beat Bryan Barberena in March, however he’ll by no means complain an excessive amount of when his hand will get raised.
“You imply getting punched within the head and face a bunch of instances? I’m making an attempt not to do this, however you get right into a fist combat, that’s sort of what occurs.,” Meerschaert stated with amusing. “Edmen did an excellent job on the ft. He had superb distance administration. He had some good clear energy photographs down the center. He caught me with a extremely good physique shot that, simply the best way it landed, the motion on it on the finish it sort of landed on a bizarre spot.
“I’ve received a fairly powerful abdomen, like often physique photographs don’t do something, however the best way and the time he caught me, that basically sucked and that sort of began the little sequence of him beating me in regards to the head and shoulders. However so long as I’m awake, I’ve received an opportunity to win. I just about blocked all the pieces and needed to climate the storm a little bit bit and located my method out.”
Meerschaert credited referee Mark Smith for giving him each alternative to outlive the onslaught earlier than storming again to get the submission on Shahbazyan.
As a lot as he needs he wouldn’t find yourself in these sorts of bushy conditions within the first place, Meerschaert is aware of via loads of expertise that he has what it takes to soak up an entire lot of punishment and nonetheless storm again for the win.
“I do know if I’m nonetheless awake, there’s a method for me to win,” Meerschaert stated. “You’ve received to place me six ft below earlier than I’m going to cease combating. Whether or not it’s on the ft swinging again, if I’ve received an opportunity on the bottom, my chances are high pretty much as good as anyone on the mat.
Between the brand new promotional report he set and the bonus he’s taking dwelling, Meerschaert had a fairly profitable evening at UFC Vegas 96. It might not be the best way he wished to win, however Meerschaert acknowledges that sturdiness and a never-say-die angle are attributes that separate him from a lot of his competitors.
“A clear victory like my final combat could be a significantly better instance of that, however I fought a extremely powerful man,” Meerschaert stated. “He’s been ranked earlier than and he’s received some actually good wins.
“I believe in the event you’re going to go combat any individual, like, yeah, it’s scary to go combat any individual who’s a knockout artist or a man that’s tremendous robust or has countless cardio and all these items, however I believe you have to be actually petrified of a man that’s not going to stop and that’s not going to go away simply since you land a few photographs.”
