The Twitter world was all in agreement that it was almost as much of a coming out party as his UFC victory over Michael Chiesa in the UFC APEX in November. There were a few downplaying the victory due to the altered ruleset that took away heel hooks, Craig Jones’ strongest weapon, and one person who weighed in was none other than UFC middleweight Gerald Meerschaert.
“I’ll grapple Craig Jones with heel hooks,” Meerschaert tweeted following the match.
I’ll grapple Craig Jones with heel hooks. @UFCFightPass @CMPunk @felderpaul
— Gerald Meerschaert (@The_Real_GM3) December 31, 2021
With so little context from the tweet, the intent was hard to read. Was Meerschaert kicking a man while he was down? Downplaying Brady? Trying to ride the wave of the moment?
He explains it was none of the above. He just felt bad that the ruleset took a weapon away from Craig Jones on a stage as big as Fury Pro Grappling 3.
“I found out later that they couldn’t do heel hooks for whatever reason and that’s a really, really big tool, especially if you’re playing from the bottom against a guy who’s really strong and solid on top. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m coming at anybody; I just threw it out there that I’ll do it under a full ruleset. I like heel hooks too.”
While names like Gilbert Burns, Luke Rockhold and others may have always sprung to mind as opponents for Jones in the past, Meerschaert does hold a few accomplishments that make the match a lot more intriguing than some may think out of the gate.
WOW! It ain’t over till it’s over! ?@The_Real_GM3 with a HUGE R3 to sink in the RNC for the victory! #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/AHfPC402Of
— UFC (@ufc) March 8, 2020
“I happen to be somewhat of a submission grappler myself,” Meerschaert explained. “I don’t have the accolades of pure submission grappling, but most of my wins in MMA in general and in the UFC are by submission. I set the record for middleweight wins by submission and it would make sense. If they’re going to pick somebody out of the UFC roster, I feel like I should be one of those guys.”
He’s got the middleweight submission record, a black belt in BJJ and 26 MMA wins by submission.
Does Meerschart have what it takes to take down Craig Jones with Jones’ bread and butter at his disposal? He likes his odds. Here’s to 2022 bringing us a SuperFight we may have never known we needed.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE! ?@The_Real_GM3 secured the choke and his 8️⃣th UFC finish! pic.twitter.com/ebFj2aFfML
— UFC (@ufc) August 29, 2021
“I’m not going to cry myself to sleep at night if it doesn’t happen, but it would be really, really cool if I got to do that,” Meerschaert said. “Obviously if I got a little bit of a heads up that would be cool so that I could get some rounds in and get myself in the best grappling shape I can, but if they said, ‘Two weeks, show up,’ it’s a grappling match. I’ll go in there and give it what I got for eight minutes. If I gotta be suckin’ wind, so be it. I’ll move some things around if I have to get that thing going.”
Relive every one of Gerald Meerschaert’s UFC submissions, and Fury Pro Grappling 3 by signing up for UFC FIGHT PASS TODAY!
