Got a fight!!! All this time to prepare and I’m already head and shoulders above the competition. #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/if9OAwGE1E
— Gerald Meerschaert (@The_Real_GM3) January 31, 2020
The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be bringing another middleweight showdown to its March pay-per-view card.
Both Gerald Meerschaert (30-12) and Deron Winn (6-1) posted on their respective social media accounts announcing the matchup on Thursday night. The two will collide at middleweight at UFC 248, which goes down on March 7. The two will join fellow middleweights on the card including the champ and his challenger, Jared Cannonier and his unannounced opponent, Derek Brunson and Edmen Shahbazyan.
Meerschaert has dropped three of his last four outings, most recently a split decision loss to Eryk Anders at UFC Fight Night 161 in October. Sporting a finish rate of 93 percent, “GM3” has finished his opponent in each of his five Octagon appearances, including his last two by technical submission. When he put Trevin Giles to sleep with a guillotine choke at UFC on ESPN 2 in March 2019, Meerschaert joined a group of ten fighters across UFC history that have picked up multiple technical submission wins.
Winn tasted defeat for the first time in his career when Darren Stewart edged him via split decision at UFC on ESPN 6 in October. The judges’ verdict somewhat controversial, exactly half of the media scorers awarded the victory to each man. The loss snapped a six-fight win streak that saw him beat names including Eric Spicely in his promotional debut as well as Tom Lawler. Once competing for Bellator MMA, the American Kickboxing Academy prospect won his first four fights by first-round knockout.
UFC 248 takes place on March 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where it will be headlined by a middleweight title collision between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero. Serving as the co-main event is another title fight, this time at strawweight, between Weili Zhang and former divisional queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk.