UFC star Khamzat Chimaev's last opponent willing to do 'whatever it takes' for rematch
In less than 12 hours' time, the UFC will make its return to Las Vegas at the UFC Apex. The last time Dana White and his team hosted an event at the Apex was in September. UFC's newest sensation Khamzat Chimaev once again stole the show that day by putting Gerald Meerschaert to sleep inside the first minute of their fight.
On the back of a devastating 17-second loss to the up-and-coming Chimaev, Meerschaert is now willing to do whatever it takes to earn himself a rematch. While speaking to TSN's Aaron Bronsteter, Gerald Meerschaert said that he will prove that he has whatever it takes to beat Khamzat Chimaev.
“I genuinely don’t like that guy[Khamzat Chimaev]. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, just the way he carries himself. He doesn’t, I don’t know, there’s something that I don’t like. I don’t think he likes me either. And I think part of the reason I don’t like him is because he was acting like I said something disrespectful towards him. I don’t know if it’s because people were interpreting what I said to him incorrectly or something."
Meerschaert added that he has always credited Khamzat Chimaev as a good fighter and expected him to come forward during their fight, which he did.
The veteran Meerschaert, however, admitted that he failed to hold his end of the bargain about offering resistance to Chimaev.
“But the whole time I was like, I said he was good, I said I expected him to come forward and do all this other stuff. The only thing I said was that he was overlooking me and that he was going to face resistance and I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain on that, that’s 100 percent on me.
"I said something and I didn’t do it. And not only that, but me not liking the guy, that leaves a real bad taste in my mouth, and I’m going to do whatever it takes as far as stringing wins together to get back at that guy. If he wants to keep sitting up there and saying no one wants to fight me, eventually he’s going to run in that spot again, and I’ll be sitting there waiting for him.”
What's next for Khamzat Chimaev?
After three dominant wins in a row, Khamzat Chimaev is now set to fight top UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards in December. The fight was eventually confirmed after Edwards was removed from the rankings and is scheduled to go ahead on the 19th of December.