Gerald Meerschaert vs Chase Waldon ｜ Full World Title Fight ｜ LFA Fights

Alright gentlemen, this is for the RFA world title middleweight. Protect yourself at all times, obey my commands, touch gloves and let's get this thing started. Joe Fit with the final instructions for this one. Our main event here at RFA45 for the middleweight championship of the world. Scheduled for five rounds, but will it go that far? Between Chase Walden and Gerald Mershav. Michael Chiavello, Pat Middletich with you. Duke Rufus in the corner of Mershav. Mershav in southpaw stance. Walden better set stuff up. He's hurt, he's hurt. That staggered him. Mershav takes his time though. As I said, Mershav a little more fluid obviously with his striking. Leg kicks from Walden. Poked him with a quick uppercut. Got the angle, nice takedown, very smooth. This is experience showing. Mershav looking at the goods early on, tries to mounds him. Comfortable, confident start here from Gerald Mershav. Absolutely. Smooth as silk so far. Duke Rufus not yelling, he's talking. Extend your left and bring it backwards. Fluid striking. Oh, Walden got tagged in the nose. Gotta stop doing that stuff. Dominating first round, the monster, the brute, Mershav. He on belly. Looks for the mounds, can't get it. Oh, arm triangle, he went there on purpose, buddy. That's tight. He's done, he's done, he's done. It's gonna be over in a moment. Turning, turning. He's out, he's out, he's out. Mershav takes the middleweight championship of the world in one round. And he is a beast. He's going to the UFC. Yeah, pretty much. 24 and 8 now, Mershav, undefeated since 2011. What a streak. I should say, undefeated in the last five fights for Mershav. Walden, who had the streak since 2011, gets defeated for the first time in, what, five years? Dude, I'm telling you, great learning experience for a young guy like that who had a good record. He knows now, when he watches this, he's going to realize how he's going to have to tighten up his game striking and on the ground. I mean, this is how you learn. Tough way to learn, but the best way to learn is having a guy with a lot of experience teach you lessons. You can see Walden hurt there. Slick step in by Mershav. Landed that strike. Throwing a big kick without setting it up. Losing his balance, falling down. Mershav's not going to get hit by a kick like that to begin with. And then you put yourself in a horrible position. Watch Mershav sliding that knee across. Beautiful job getting to the arm triangle quickly and getting the finish here. If Mershav does not end up in the UFC after this fight, I will personally give Mick Maynard a pink belly. Let's go to Mike Kendall. Your referee, Joe Phipp, calls a stop to the fight at one minute, 44 seconds into the very first round for your winner by tap out due to arm triangle and new RFA middleweight world champion, Gerald Mershav! What a win. Mershav is going to have a chat now with Ron Kroc. All right. And Suarez just strapped on the hardware. Not a bad RFA debut. Gerald Mershav, just give us your thoughts on this fight. Quick work tonight. Hey, that's why they bring me in. I'm the spoiler. You know, Chase is a good guy. He's tough. But like I said, I'm on another level. Man, you proved that tonight. Let's check out some of the highlights. There weren't many as you came in and just went to work. Talk us through this. Did you see that pullback? That was sick. I did. That was nice. Yep, just keeping good top position. Punch him in the face a little bit. I've seen that arm come up. And, you know, I'm a Brazilian jujitsu brown belt myself, under Dan and Wanderlei. Carlson Gracie team represent. I felt that choke get deep, and, you know, I got that man strength. I get that squeeze, you're going to tap. Well, and again, this is your 22nd finish out of 24 victories, making quick work. Do you think you're going to return here to the RFA, or are you punching your ticket to the UFC right away? Hey, I hope I get the call-up. If I don't, I'll keep finishing whoever they put in front of me. But I'll tell you right now, that's a bad ************ right there. Easy, easy. If you do get the call, Gerald, do you feel that you can make an impact immediately in the UFC middleweight division? Hey, I'm ready. I'm ready to make waves. You want exciting fights? There it is. Put me in. I'll finish everybody. Who would you like to fight? Is there a dream fight that you have? If you move over to the big promotion right away, give us your thoughts. The fight that pays the most. That's pretty well put, my friend. I thought so. Thank you. Gerald, congratulations on the RFA middleweight belt. Congratulations. I'm going to bring over your coach, Duke Rufus, now and get his thoughts on this fight. Duke, you told me early on to keep an eye on this kid, and you weren't kidding. Just tell us, just how good is he? Well, he came out. He's never had an amateur fight. He started in the old days. He started under pride rules, soccer kicks, stomps. Some of his losses were in an era, a rougher era of the fight. He matured. He's just won seven out of his last eight, and six of them were finishes. Everyone loves a finish. That's what the UFC loves. Mick Maynard, you got that job over there. My man is ready to roll. I told you to tune in, Mick. Here's the real deal, Gerald Mearshardt. He's ready to rumble. Like I said, all the fighters back home, they want to finish, and that's what he did. Don't get paid for overtime. And he does it consistently, Duke. Is that something that you work with him at Rufus Sport on, or is it just something that comes naturally? It's all my guys. I love their mentality. They want to have a long career. Instead of playing it safe, point fighting, you go finish your opponent. That's how you have a long career. You don't get paid for overtime. Take them out in one, and we go get another fight. Ideally, I mean, Pat Miletic just said it, he will hunt down Mick Maynard if the UFC does not offer this guy a contract. But for you, Duke, as you have coached him throughout these years, ideally what would you like to see him do in the UFC? Maybe you think he can make an impact right away. Of course. I mean, like I said, his record of the guys he's beaten, he's shown that he can hang with some high-level guys in the UFC. Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on Twitter will speak very highly of Gerald. Anthony Pettis will speak very highly of Gerald and all of our other great training partners. They know he belongs. It's just been hard to get him there, and I think it's time to get him in. All right. Well, I think that is probably your next step. Gerald, congratulations. You are the new RFA middleweight champion. Thank you. All right. Michael and Pat, back to you. Thanks, Ron. Indeed, Gerald Meurschaert may be on his way to the UFC. Certainly a very marketable, a very amicable fighter and gets the job done in the cage every time.