"What a legend" - Dricus du Plessis, Henry Cejudo, and others react as Gerald Meerschaert breaks Anderson Silva's record at UFC Vegas 96

Gerald Meerschaert's performance at UFC Vegas 96 drew accolades from Dricus du Plessis, Henry Cejudo, and many other MMA personalities. With the win, Meerschaert broke a record previously held by UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva.

Meerschaert (37-17) kicked off UFC Vegas 96's main card in a middleweight bout against Edmen Shahbazyan. The event is currently taking place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 36-year-old went into the fight having lost three of his previous five bouts. The American was coming off a second-round submission win over Bryan Barberena at UFC Fight Night 239.

Meanwhile, Shahbazyan (13-5) was also 2-3 in his last five bouts. The 26-year-old was on a four-fight win streak in the promotion before being stopped by Derek Brunson in 2020. In his previous octagon outing at UFC Vegas 89, 'The Golden Boy' defeated Aj Dobson via first-round knockout.

In their bout, Meerschaert was dominated by Shahbazyan from the opening bell. The veteran fighter was almost knocked out at one point by Shahbazyan's severe ground-and-pound attack, but he managed to survive.

However, in the second round, Meerschaert managed to reverse the momentum when he successfully submitted his opponent with an arm-triangle choke.

Check out Gerald Meerschaert's submission victory below:

With the win, Meerschaert surpassed the record for most finishes (12) in UFC middleweight history, previously held by Silva (11).

UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis took to X and expressed his admiration for Meerschaert, writing:

''@The_Real_GM3 what a legend''

Cejudo praised Meerschaert's submission choke, writing;

''Great comeback! That choke was tight! #UFC Vegas96''

Reigning champion Belal Muhammad also applauded Meerschaert's performance and wrote:

''Let’s gooooooo @The_Real_GM3 does it again!!!''

In another post, Muhammad wrote:

''So happy for Gerald he’s the man''

Check out more reactions below:

Screenshot of fan reactions to UFC's post on X