Credit: Meerschaert IG
Gerald Meerschaert plans ‘to make Deron Winn pay’ for trash talk at UFC 248
Gerald Meerschaert will make his 10th walk to the Octagon this Saturday — his 43rd as a professional fighter — and to say he is fired up to face his opponent would be a huge understatement.
Meerschaert will take on Deron Winn at UFC 248, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The middleweight bout will kick off the ESPN preliminary card.
UFC 248 features two world title fights, which includes Israel Adesanya defending his middleweight belt against Yoel Romero. In the co-main event, Zhang Weili will defend her women’s strawweight title for the first time when she faces the former, longtime champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
“GM3” recently joined MyMMANews.com to discuss the fight, his teammate Paul Felder’s recent fight with Dan Hooker at UFC Auckland, judging in MMA, the genesis of his rivalry with Winn — which began on social media with Winn calling him out after he was signed to the UFC — not being impressed with what he has seen from his opponent thus far, whether he’s concerned about Winn missing weight, why he’s as motivated as he’s been in a long time, not putting too much pressure on himself and much more.
In terms of how he sees the fight playing out, Meerschaert doesn’t seeing it getting to the judges on Saturday night.
“Man, I see myself going out there and trying to dominate,” Meerschaert told MyMMANews.com. “I don’t just want to win, I want to put my hands on that guy. I want to make him pay that he even had the right and come try and talk to me like that. I’m probably going to start talking s**t to him in the middle of the fight. I’m pretty amped up for this in a way that I haven’t been in a long, long time. I’m excited.
“I feel like I’m reacting to him a little bit differently because I do have all these fights, I have all of this experience and I’ve fought some of the best guys in the world. He wants to come at me and wants to test my gangster real quick, so I’m gonna get in there and show him what’s what. He thinks I’m soft or something like that, or that I’m not a man of my word. I’m gonna go in there, take the young man behind the wood shed, give him a whooping, collect my paycheck and go home.”
Check out the full interview with Gerald Meerschaert ahead of his UFC 248 bout with Deron Winn in the video above. Keep it locked on MyMMANews.com for full results and fight recaps throughout the event.
