Gerald Meerschaert
Gerald Edward Meerschaert III (born December 18, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2007, he formerly competed for the RFA, Titan FC, and King of the Cage. He is the former RFA Middleweight Champion. Background. Meerschaert was born in Racine, Wisconsin, United States. He trained in Taekwondo when he was young. He began playing alto saxophone in the fifth grade and through his years at Walden III Middle and High School. Meerschaert later studied music education in college, hoping to become a  music teacher, before deciding to make MMA his career after watching some local MMA and UFC fights on TV. Meerschaert began training in MMA at the age of 19. Mixed martial arts career. Early career. After a 1–0 amateur career, Meerschaert fought most of his fights in his native state of Wisconsin from 2007 to 2011 and started traveling to nearby states to compete after 2012. Prior to joining the UFC, he was an active fighter with a record of 25–8–0. Meerschaert began his professional MMA career in March 2007, fighting at Freestyle Combat Challenge 26 on March 10 after  training for just one month in MMA. He lost his first fight to Jay Ellis via a technical submission. Two months after his first loss, he bounced back to snap a win via submission (kimura - reversed double wristlock). His third MMA fight came one week later on May 19, 2007 against Will Pace. He won the fight via a rear-naked choke on round one. On January 12, 2008, Meerschaert faced Kenneth Allen and picked up the win by locking up a triangle choke on round one. Five weeks later, Meerschaert stepped in the cage and competed against Caleb Krull  and won by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–27). Without taking a break, Meerschaert was back to the cage again four weeks, and this time his challenger was Alex Carter. On the second round Meerschaert managed to set up a triangle choke and submitted Carter. His last fight in Freestyle Combat was on May 3, 2008, where Meerschaert picked up a win over Ryan Scheeper through an armbar submission. Meerschaert made a move and joined the Madtown Throwdown promotion on July 25, 2008. His first promotion debut facing Mike Vaughn. Without much time wasted, Meerschaert managed to climb on Vaughn's  back and pulled off a rear-naked choke and won the fight. Next, Meerschaert face Curtis Bailey. The fight was held in Madison, Wisconsin on Madtown Throwdown 17. The fight was a five rounds fight and Meerschaert suffered the lost on this fight via guillotine choke on round two. After a busy year in 2009, Meerschaert did not set foot on the cage to compete until May 2, 2009. He fought Kenny Robertson on Madtown Throwdown 19 and lost via a kneebar submission on round one. He started off by fighting on Gladiators Cage Fighting: Fair Warning on August 15 , 2009, his opponent was Jacob Kuester and Meerschaert managed to overpower Kuester and submitted him via a neck crank. On the next fight, Meerschaert face-off Morrison Lamb on Racine Fight Night 5 on November 28, 2009 in his hometown, Racine, Wisconsin. It was a short fight where Meerschaert submitted Lamb via a guillotine choke on round one. Meershaert faced Eddie Larrea at Extreme Cagefigting Organisation 4 on March 20, 2010. Meershaert secured the win via an arm-triangle choke. April 17, 2010, Meershaert fought in Combat USA 19. Meershaert punched his way through and knocked out Jim Klimczyk and  snatched the win. His last competition in 2010 was on September 11. He took on Sam Alvey, with a record of 11–1–0, ranking number 1 in Wisconsin in the middleweight division. They competed on Combat USA: Championship Tournament Finals for a five-round title middleweight fight. On the early rounds, Meershaert attempted multiple takedowns but Alvey managed to stop most of them; however, Meershaert managed to put Alvey on a guillotine choke on round 5 and secured the win to reign Wisconsin State middleweight 2010 champion. With the record of 14–4–0, Meershaert started off his 2011 competition on January 6 , facing Dallas O'Malley on Combat USA 24. He won the fight via guillotine choke on round two. The next fight came 3 months later where Meershaert took on Herbert Goodman, the former Green Bay Packers football player, defending his Wisconsin Middleweight title on Combat USA: Wisconsin State Finals. Meersheart lost the fight via a rear-naked choke on round one when he was taken down by Goodman after failing to hit Goodman with his left overhand, giving his back to Goodman where Goodman managed to sink a rear-naked choke. Six months later, Meershaert went on to join the Rogue  Warrior Championship 3 competition on the welterweight fight on September 6, 2011. He faced Eddie Larrea and won the fight via a rear-naked choke on round one. Meershaert did not return to the cage after he lost to Goodman until about one the half-year later when he went on to join the Rogue Warrior Championship 3 competition on the welterweight fight on September 6, 2011. He faced Eddie Larrea and won the fight via a rear-naked choke on round one. The second and also the last fight Meershaert take on for 2012 was on October 19. He  was up against Sergej Juskevic at Score Fighting Series. He lost the fight on round two via kneebar submission. On January 19, 2013 he took on Anthony Lapsley on a catchweight bout (175 Ib) on Rocktagon MMA Elite Series 23. He lost the fight on round one via rear-naked choke. He next faced Jay Ellis on King of the Cage: Certified on April 20, 2013 a catchweight bout (180 Ib). He bounced back from the last two defeat and captured the win with TKO (punches) in round one. Meershaert went to Duluth, Georgia to compete on National Fighting Championships  58 on July 19, 2013. The fight was a 180 Ib catchweight bout. The judges awarded him with the win after three battle against George Lockhart. On September 13, 2013, Meershaert fought with Nathan Gunn in another catchweight fight. He managed to submit Gunn on round two with a guillotine choke on Canadian Fighting Championship 8 event. Meerschaert moved up to Middleweight (185 Ibs) in 2014 and competed in North American Fighting Championship in two fights. First, he faced Eddie Larrea which he secured a win via arm-triangle choke and moved on to fight Sam Alvey on their second  meet up and this time he lost by unanimous decision on judges' scorecards. His last fight in 2014 was in September where he fought in KOTC: Magnum Force against Matt Lagou. He came out with a win via a TKO (doctor stoppage). Meerschaert aced Keith Smetana at 4BC: Capital City Punishment in June 2015. He won a quick win via TKO in round one. His next and last fight in 2015 came one month later and won via another TKO (doctor stoppage) against Lucas Rota. Meerschaert started his first fight in 2016 by moving up to Light Heavyweight division (205  Ibs). He fought at Valor Fight 36 and his opponent was Sidney Wheeler. He threatened Wheeler with a kimura and forced him to tap out on round one. His last fight before joining UFC was in October 2016, facing Chase Waldon in Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) in Middleweight bout. He earned the victory via submission (arm-triangle choke) on round one, earning him the RFA middleweight title. Ultimate Fighting Championship. He made his promotional debut on December 9, 2016 at , replacing injured Oluwale Bamgbose, against Joe Gigliotti. Meerschaert finished Gigliotti with an anaconda choke in round one. His performance earned  him a "Performance of the Night" bonus award. Meerschaert second UFC fight was on February 19, 2017 at against Ryan Janes. He won the fight via submission in the first round. Meerschaert faced Thiago Santos on July 8, 2017 at UFC 213. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. Meerschaert fought Eric Spicely on December 1, 2017 at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale. He won the bout via TKO in the second round. This win earned him a Performance of the Night bonus. Meerschaert faced Oskar Piechota on July 6, 2018 at . He won the fight by  technical submission due to a rear-naked choke in the second round. Meerschaert faced Jack Hermansson on December 15, 2018 at UFC on Fox 31. He lost the fight via a guillotine choke submission in the first round. Meerschaert faced Kevin Holland on March 30, 2019 at UFC on ESPN 2. He lost the fight via split decision. Meerschaert faced Trevin Giles on August 3, 2019 at UFC on ESPN 5. He won the fight via technical submission in the third round due to a guillotine choke. Meerschaert faced Eryk Anders on October 12, 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 19 . He lost the fight by split decision. Meerschaert faced Deron Winn on March 7, 2020 at UFC 248. He won the fight via a rear-naked choke submission in the third round. Meerschaert was scheduled to face Ian Heinisch on June 6, 2020, at UFC 250, however, two days before the fight Heinisch's cornerman tested positive for COVID-19. Heinisch was pulled from the fight and replaced by promotional newcomer Anthony Ivy. Subsequently, the cornerman in question was re-tested and the initial test was proven to be false positive and Heinisch was reinstated to the card. Finally, Meerschaert faced  Heinisch as originally scheduled and lost the fight via TKO in the first round. Meerschaert was expected to face Ed Herman in a light heavyweight bout on August 1, 2020 at . On the day of the event, Meerschaert pulled out due to testing positive for COVID-19 and his bout against Herman was cancelled. The bout was rescheduled for September 12, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 177. However, Meerschaert again withdrew from the bout for undisclosed reason and he was replaced by John Allan. Meerschaert faced Khamzat Chimaev on September 19, 2020 at . He lost the fight after 17 seconds due  to a knockout in round one. Meerschaert faced Bartosz Fabiński on April 17, 2021 at UFC on ESPN 22. He won the fight via technical submission in round one. This fight earned him the Performance of the Night award. Meerschaert faced Makhmud Muradov on August 28, 2021 at UFC on ESPN 30. After a back-and-forth fight, he won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in round two. This win earned him the "Performance of the Night" award. Meerschaert was scheduled to face Abusupiyan Magomedov on December 18, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 199. However, Magomedov was forced  to pull from the event due to visa issue and he was replaced by Dustin Stoltzfus. He won the bout via rear-naked choke in the third round. Meerschaert faced Krzysztof Jotko on April 30, 2022 at UFC on ESPN 35. He lost the bout via unanimous decision. Personal life. The moniker "The Machine" was coined by his friends after seeing him constantly pushing himself in the gym without really taking any breaks. Meerschaert is an alto saxophone player. Meerschaert is married to Kerrielle Meerschaert who is a medical device representative. The pair have a child named Bronx. Gerald Meerschaert