Middleweights
NR | Bartosz Fabinski (15-4, 3-2 UFC) vs. NR | Gerald Meerschaert (31-14, 6-6 UFC)Meerschaert has put in a great deal of work to become a much better fighter than he has any right to be, but that did not get him anywhere over the course of his 2020 campaign. Meerschaert got to the UFC on the back of nearly a decade of work and immediately established himself as a veteran gatekeeper capable of turning away prospects, particularly on the strength of a dangerous submission game. Meerschaert could have carved out a solid enough niche just on that basis, but he has also improved as a striker during his UFC career to the point where he is not a liability on the feet. That has made it a bit frustrating to see Meerschaert still clearly hit a wall when it comes to facing better athletes. His 2019 slate saw him narrowly drop decisions to Kevin Holland and Eryk Anders, and things went even worse in 2020, when Ian Heinisch and Khamzat Chimaev managed to blast him in fights that lasted a combined 91 seconds. Still, Meerschaert can cause problems for a lot of the UFC roster and looks to rebound here. Fabinski’s UFC career has been marred by inactivity in more ways than one. Beyond some long injury layoffs, “The Butcher” is as dedicated a grinder as there is in the UFC, as Fabinski looks to get takedowns, assert control and do little else. That has proven to be effective but also quickly goes off the rails. Michel Prazeres clipped Fabinski within seconds and sent him careening out of control, and a September loss to Andre Muniz raised some concerns about whether Fabinski can hold his own against effective submission artists. This is another litmus test to see if Fabinski can control a talented grappler, and Meerschaert has shown enough on the mat that he should be able to find something given enough time. The pick is Meerschaert via first-round submission.
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