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 (UFC).

A professional competitor since 2007, he formerly competed for the Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA), Titan FC, and King of the Cage (KOTC).

He is a former RFA Middleweight Champion.

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.

After a 1–0 amateur career, Meerschaert fought most of his fights in his native state of Wisconsin, from 2007 to 2011.

Meerschaert began his professional MMA career in March 2007, fighting at Freestyle Combat Challenge 26 on March 10, after just one month of training.

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 kimura.

His third MMA fight came one week later on May 19, 2007, against Will Pace.

He won the fight via rear-naked choke in round one.

On January 12, 2008, Meerschaert faced Kenneth Allen and won via triangle choke in round one.

Five weeks later, Meerschaert stepped in the cage and competed against Caleb Krull.

He won the fight via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–27).

Meerschaert was back to the cage again four weeks later vs. Alex Carter.

Meerschaert won the fight via triangle choke in round two.

His last fight in Freestyle Combat was on May 3, 2008, vs. Ryan Scheeper.

Meerschaert won via armbar in the first round.

Meerschaert fought Mike Vaughn July 25, 2008.

Meerschaert won via first round rear-naked choke.

Meerschaert fought Curtis Bailey October 10, 2008.

The fight was held in Madison, Wisconsin on Madtown Throwdown 17.

The fight was five rounds, and Meerschaert lost the fight via guillotine choke in 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.

Meerschaert faced Eddie Larrea at Extreme Cagefigting Organisation 4 on March 20, 2010.

Meerschaert secured the win via an arm-triangle choke.

April 17, 2010, Meerschaert fought in Combat USA 19.

Meerschaert 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.

He 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.