It’s a meeting of middleweights whose intended opponents were unavailable as Contender Series graduate Dustin Stoltzfus takes on submission ace Gerald Meerschaert on Saturday night.
Entering on a two-fight skid, Stoltzfus had two different opponents fall out of this weekend’s booking, as both Anthony Hernandez and Caio Borralho were slated and then scratched from Saturday’s fight card. The 30-year-old middleweight, who lives and trains in Germany, is still searching for his first UFC victory after punching his ticket to the Octagon by pushing his winning streak to 10 with a win over Joseph Pyfer in the summer of 2020.
Meerschaert has enjoyed a nice bounce-back year after ending 2020 with a pair of quick losses, earning submission wins over Bartosz Fabinski and Makmud Muradov in April and August, respectively, collecting a Performance of the Night bonus each time. It’s been more than eight years since Meerschaert won a fight by decision and only two of his 33 career wins have come on the cards, so you best believe “GM3” will be hunting for a finish from the word “Go” on Saturday night.
Will Stoltzfus get his first UFC victory in his third appearance, against his third opponent or will Meerschaert make it three straight in 2021?
Raoni Barcelos vs. Victor Henry
After having his nine-fight winning streak snapped last time out, Brazilian veteran Raoni Barcelos looks to get moving in the right direction again when he takes on veteran newcomer Victor Henry on Saturday night.
Barcelos was on the cusp of cracking the Top 15 at bantamweight heading into his June engagement with Timur Valiev, having earned five straight victories inside the Octagon to advance his record to 16-1 overall. Unfortunately for the 34-year-old from Rio, he landed on the wrong side of a majority decision verdict, sending him into Saturday’s pairing looking to start a fresh winning streak.
A catch wrestling disciple of Josh Barnett, the 34-year-old Henry has been one of the top bantamweights operating outside the major North American promotions for a number of years. He holds wins over veterans like Hideo Tokoro and Masanori Kanehara, UFC alums Anderson Dos Santos and Albert Morales, and current UFC competitor Kyler Philips, and touches down in the Octagon having won eight of his last nine fights.
This is a wildly intriguing pairing between the established Barcelos and an absolute live wire in Henry, and no one should be surprised if this ends up setting the bar for the Fight of the Night bonus extremely high on Saturday night at the UFC APEX.
Justin Tafa vs. Harry Hunsucker
Heavyweights looking to get things moving in the right direction to close out the year clash in this preliminary card fight as Justin Tafa makes his fifth UFC appearance opposite returning sophomore Harry Hunsucker.
The 27-year-old Tafa has stumbled out of the gate to start his UFC career, entering this weekend’s contest on a two-fight skid and sporting a 1-3 record inside the Octagon. While his split decision loss to Carlos Felipe in January was questionable, Australia’s “Bad Man” needs a big effort in a bad way this weekend.
After appearing on Season Four of Dana White’s Contender Series, Hunsucker got a short-notice opportunity under the UFC banner in March, filling in for Don’Tale Mayes opposite Tai Tuivasa. That outing didn’t go particularly well for “The Hurricane,” who looks to avoid a second consecutive defeat at the hands of an Australian heavyweight when he steps in with Tafa on Saturday.
