Preview: UFC on ESPN 62 ‘Cannonier vs. Borralho’

Middleweights

Edmen Shahbazyan (13-4, 6-4 UFC) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (36-17, 11-9 UFC)

ODDS: Shahbazyan (-310), Meerschaert (+250)

Shahbazyan is somehow still 26 years old, so there’s still hope for “The Golden Boy” to work his way back towards the top of the middleweight division, particularly since he has shown some progress in his last few fights. Shahbazyan was easy to write off ahead of his 2018 appearance on the Contender Series. His connections to Ronda Rousey seemingly helped him get the spot, given that Shabazyan’s record consisted of quick wins against what barely qualified as professional competition. No matter how he got the opportunity, Shahbazyan immediately proved he was a prospect to watch, racking up quick wins—and one wrestling-heavy decision over Darren Stewart—to break his way into the UFC’s middleweight rankings. However, once Shahbazyan started getting big opportunities, beginning with a main event spot against Derek Brunson in 2020, the wheels started to fall off. Shahbazyan continued to prove he was as sharp as anyone with his weapons for about a round, but once Brunson, Jack Hermansson and Nassourdine Imavov were each able to survive that early onslaught, he seemingly folded under the pressure, sometimes in particularly brutal fashion. After the Imavov loss, Shahbazyan took some time off to retool, and there has been clear improvement in fits and starts. He paced himself well against Dalcha Lungiambula, and while that just got him thrown into a loss against Anthony Hernandez in a particularly poisonous style matchup, he did manage to stage the first real comeback of his career in a bounce-back win over A.J. Dobson in March. However, concerns about Shahbazyan’s cardio still persist—the Dobson fight was over within a round despite its momentum swings—so it’s up to Meerschaert to try and drag Shahbazyan into deep waters.

That has typically been the name of the game for Meerschaert, who took the long road to the UFC roster, getting the call about a decade into his professional career. Meerschaert has settled into a gatekeeper role with a clear set of skills. He has improved greatly as a striker during his time on the UFC roster, but his lack of speed means that his best course of action is still to try and turn things into a grind and work for a submission. Sometimes that fails miserably, but Meerschaert also has his fair share of comeback wins against much better athletes, so it’s hard to entirely count “GM3” out until things are completely over. This is a clear two-true-outcome bout, with Shahbazyan either scoring the early finish or Meerschaert wearing him out and ending this late. Shahbazyan’s sharp enough that he gets the benefit of the doubt, making for a big win that also won’t answer a lot of questions. The pick is Shahbazyan via first-round knockout.

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Cannonier vs. Borralho
Ricci vs. Hill
Valentin vs. Loder
Ofli vs. Alves
Morales vs. Magny
Shahbazyan vs. Meerschaert
The Prelims