Welterweight Spotlight: Gerald Meerschaert of Dave Strasser’s Freestyle Academy

Last Friday at Madtown Throwdown 16 – Red, White, and Bruised; Racine resident and Freestyle Combat Academy fighter, Gerald Meerschaert defeated Mike “The Volt” Vaughn with a rear naked choke submission in the second round. Vaughn is the owner and head instructor of Blast Martial Arts in Madison, Wisconsin and holds a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the world famous Marcello Monteiro and held a (2-1) MMA record going into the fight with his only loss coming at the hands of Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis in 2006. With the win Meerschaert ups his MMA record to (7-2) with five straight wins, all of which have come in 2008. Meerschaert’s last loss came a year ago in August against Pancrase and Deep veteran, Daisuke “13” Hanazawa of Osaka, Japan.

In February at Freestyle Combat Challenge 33, Meerschaert defeated previously undefeated fighter Caleb Krull of Serrano’s Combat Gym via unanimous decision. Krull (4-3) was riding a four-fight win streak but has since dropped two more fights to the very tough Ted Worthington (20-11) and David Gaston (4-0). Despite defeating Caleb Krull, Meerschaert was absent from the WCS 1st quarter rankings while Krull was ranked at #3.

With wins over tough opponents in Caleb Krull and Mike Vaughn, Meerschaert’s other three wins this year have come over complete tomato cans in Kenneth Allen (1-27), Alex Carter (4-23), and Ryan Scheeper (2-6). At first glance one could blame the matchmaking or organization but a fighter like Kenneth Allen has fought in three Wisconsin organizations that include Madtown Throwdown, Gladiators, and Freestyle Combat Challenge in 2007 and 2008.

At only 20 years old it appears that Meerschaert has a good start and a bright future in MMA. He trains under and with high level fighters such as Nick Agallar, Dave Strasser, Brian Geraghty, Sergio Gomez, and Jameel Massouh that have fought in the big shows and know what it takes to make it to the next level. Whether or not this submission specialist will make it to the next level remains to be seen but I think he’s an up and coming welterweight you might want to keep your eye out for in the future.