Of these two new
Ultimate Fighting Championship pairings, one of them might not
make much sense.
On Thursday and Friday, two interesting matches at 185 pounds were
slotted into the lineup for
UFC Chicago. The middleweight contests will play out inside of
the United Center on Aug. 16. The first, as announced by the
Fighting
Nerds team, pits Gerald
Meerschaert (37-19) against Michal
Oleksiejczuk (20-9, 1 NC) in about as quintessential of a
striker vs. grappler affair one could make. The second, which was
released by the promotion itself
on Friday, takes place between Jared
Cannonier (18-8) and Michael
Page (23-3).
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Submission savant Meerschaert has dropped his last two, accounting
for a submission defeat to Reinier
de Ridder last November, and a decision to Brad
Tavares in April. Those two losses put a pair of second-round
submissions in the rear view, as he had wrangled Bryan
Barberena and Edmen
Shahbazyan to remain relevant at the mercurial division. Since
joining the promotion in 2016, every win for “GM3” has been a
stoppage.
While the submission rate for Meerschaert is a bit under 80%, the
knockout rate for Oleksiejczuk is nearly that as well—when adding
his lone sub, a rear-naked choke, the Polish fighter’s stoppage
rate rises to an even 80%. In April, “Hussar” put distance between
three consecutive losses by getting back in the win column with a
beatdown of Sedriques
Dumas. All but one of Oleksiejczuk’s victories in the promotion
have come by knockout.
Ex-title challenger Cannonier finds himself in a strange situation,
having fought most of the top 10 at 185 pounds. Previously
dispatching Gregory
Rodrigues in the fourth frame atop their UFC Fight Night 251
event in February, Cannonier kept himself in the title picture. It
marked his first knockout in almost exactly three years, with the
41-year-old generally going all three or five rounds as of
late.
This will not be the first middleweight jaunt for Page, as he
tested the waters in Super Fight League in 2013. Over the years,
the Brit has also dabbled in multiple catchweights above 170 pounds
in order to get competition. In his last time out, he relocated to
185 pounds officially to outhustle Sharabutdin
Magomedov, taking a decision over the one-eyed striker.
These two middleweight clashes will likely serve on the main card
of UFC 319, also known as UFC Chicago. The main attraction also
comes at the same weight class, with the promotion potentially
building in backup plans in case the title tilt of Dricus Du
Plessis vs. Khamzat
Chimaev falls apart—rumors have swirled that Chimaev is already
out, and that Nassourdine
Imavov may step up, but those have been unsubstantiated to this
point. Other matches on the billing include a flyweight thriller
between Tim Elliott
and Kai
Asakura, as well as a lightweight banger pitting Edson
Barboza against Drakkar
Klose.