Gerald Edward Meerschaert III (born December 18, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he holds the record for most finishes in middleweight history with 12.

[6] A professional competitor since 2007, he formerly competed for the Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA), Titan FC, and King of the Cage (KOTC).

He began playing alto saxophone in the fifth grade and through his years at Walden III Middle and High School.

[12] On January 12, 2008, Meerschaert faced Kenneth Allen and won via triangle choke in round one.

He fought Kenny Robertson on Madtown Throwdown 19 and lost via a kneebar submission on round one.

They competed on Combat USA: Championship Tournament Finals for a five-round title middleweight fight.

On the early rounds, Meerschaert attempted multiple takedowns but Alvey managed to stop most of them; however, Meerschaert managed to put Alvey on a guillotine choke on round 5 and secured the win to reign Wisconsin State middleweight 2010 champion.

[24] With the record of 14–4–0, Meerschaert started off his 2011 competition on January 6, facing Dallas O'Malley on Combat USA 24.

[26] Six months later, Meerschaert went on to join the Rogue Warrior Championship 3 competition on the welterweight fight on September 6, 2011.

[27] Meerschaert did not return to the cage after he lost to Goodman until about one the half-year later when he went on to join the Rogue Warrior Championship 3 competition on the welterweight fight on September 6, 2011.

[28] On January 19, 2013, he took on Anthony Lapsley on a catchweight bout (175 Ib) on Rocktagon MMA Elite Series 23.

[29] He next faced Jay Ellis on King of the Cage: Certified on April 20, 2013, a catchweight bout (180 Ib).

He managed to submit Gunn on round two with a guillotine choke on Canadian Fighting Championship 8 event.

First, he faced Eddie Larrea which he secured a win via arm-triangle choke[32] and moved on to fight Sam Alvey on their second meet up and this time he lost by unanimous decision on judges' scorecards.

[35] Meerschaert made his promotional debut on December 9, 2016, at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov, replacing injured Oluwale Bamgbose, against Joe Gigliotti.

[37][38] Meerschaert faced Ryan Janes on February 19, 2017, at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Browne.

Subsequently, the cornerman in question was re-tested and the initial test was proven to be false positive and Heinisch was reinstated to the card.

[59] Finally, Meerschaert faced Heinisch as originally scheduled and lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

[60][61] Meerschaert was expected to face Ed Herman in a light heavyweight bout on August 1, 2020, at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs.

[62] On the day of the event, Meerschaert pulled out due to testing positive for COVID-19 and his bout against Herman was cancelled.

[65] Meerschaert faced Khamzat Chimaev on September 19, 2020, at UFC Fight Night: Covington vs.

[74] However, Magomedov was forced to pull from the event due to visa issue and he was replaced by Dustin Stoltzfus.

[78] Meerschaert faced Bruno Silva on August 13, 2022, at UFC on ESPN 41[79] He won the fight via a guillotine choke in round three.

[80] Meerschaert was scheduled again to face Abusupiyan Magomedov on February 18, 2023, at UFC Fight Night 219.

[89] Despite being dropped by a body blow and receiving repeated ground strikes, he won the fight via an arm-triangle submission in the second round.

[91] Meerschaert faced former ONE Light Heavyweight and Middleweight World Champion Reinier de Ridder on November 9, 2024 at UFC Fight Night 247.

[93] Meerschaert stepped in on less than a week's notice to compete against Joe Pyfer at Fury Pro Grappling 7 on May 27, 2023.