Gerald Meerschaert reveals backstage altercation with Khamzat Chimaev

[ad_1] Gerald Meerschaert revealed Khamzat Chimaev bought in his face with no cameras round only for "the love of the sport" forward of their UFC struggle in 2020.

Chimaev was simply two fights in to his UFC run on the time, and the hype prepare was full steam forward. At a pre-fight press convention, Chimaev persistently reduce off Meerschaert's responses to questions, which he admits was annoying. Nevertheless, a backstage interplay passed off that Meerschaert hasnt' revealed till now, which gave him an perception to Chimaev's true persona.

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"Look, I bought nothing towards Khamzat. We fought; it is over. He is finished nice. That dude's the person. All respect," Meerschaert informed The Casuals MMA. "However I do keep in mind we met within the corridor – this was throughout COVID. We see him within the hallway, it was me and Brendan Allen, after which him and his coaches. He walks as much as me, and type of will get in my face, and we begin speaking sh*t backwards and forwards. It was just like the dumbest sh*t speak, like you understand when two guys see one another and we're attempting to say, 'Oh yeah? Yeah? You wanna?' Like, we're each – I do not know precisely what he is saying, I in all probability mentioned some dumb sh*t, however we're each similar to – he bought aggressive, and I used to be like, 'Who is that this for?'"

Meerschaert thought that perhaps Chimaev was provoked by a meme he posted within the lead-up to the struggle, however could not be certain if that was the case. He was shocked by the truth that Chimaev confronted him within the hallway with nobody there to witness it other than his teammate and Chimaev's coaches, who turned out to be very good to him, which added one other layer to the perplexing altercation.

"We bought in one another's face, and there was like nobody round," Meerschaert mentioned. "Behind my head, I am like, 'There's no one else right here.' So like, he is simply doing it for the love of the sport, which like, mad respect. He is simply doing his factor, regardless of who's there or not, which is best than, 'Oh, I want cameras.' However he does this, he walks away, and his coaches, 'Oh, good to fulfill you. Good to fulfill you.' All probably the most well mannered like, 'Yeah, we all know he is loopy.' However I used to be simply confused, they had been so good. Why is he like this? We're gonna struggle, and a few guys are totally different, like they gotta get in that place earlier than and after, however we're gonna punch one another. Nicely, truly, you might be gonna punch me, on this case. I wished to punch him, however it did not work out that manner."

Meerschaert solely lasted 17 seconds within the octagon with Chimaev. He was knocked out with a proper cross. Chimaev has gone on to win each struggle since, and captured the middleweight title in his most up-to-date struggle at UFC 319 towards Dricus Du Plessis.

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True to Meerschaert's story, there have been a number of cases over time of Chimaev being aggressive backstage, resembling when he shoved Ian Machado Garry in Qatar, or when the UFC 279 press convention was canceled because of what UFC CEO Dana White known as a "massive sh*t present" backstage involving Chimaev and different fighters.