Gerald Meerschaert, Raoni Barcelos Leave Resurrection Fighting Alliance 45 Feeling Golden

Dangerous submission specialist Gerald Meerschaert declared that he was on another level from Chase Waldon and backed up his words in the Resurrection Fighting Alliance 45 main event on Friday at the Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, Minnesota.

Meerschaert scored a powerful takedown early in the fight, but the Wisconsin fighter climbed back to his feet. Unfortunately for Waldon, he did not remain upright for long, as “The Machine” took him down again. Waldon looked like a fish out of water on his back, as Meerschaert was relentless and quickly passed to his right. From there, the Roufusport representative locked in a textbook arm-triangle choke. Waldon did everything he could to escape, but his efforts were of no use. Meerschaert forced the tap at 1:44 of the first round, the victory bringing with it the vacant Resurrection Fighting Alliance middleweight championship.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s Raoni Barcelos looked sensational in the co-feature, as he retained his featherweight title with a spectacular knockout. After displaying much greater speed and power in the first round against Dan Moret, Barcelos countered a right hand and dropped his foe with a perfect left hook to the jaw. Moret crumbled in a heap, and Barcelos pounced on him with follow-up punches; the American was already out. Referee Merrick Morlan quickly intervened, ending the fight 51 ticks into Round 2.

Welterweight prospect Chad Curry fended off two deep armbars from inside Frank Schuman’s guard and made him pay. Curry was relentless on the ground, eventually passing to side control and then mount. From there, he rained down punches to force the stoppage. The end came at 3:06 of the first round.

Local welterweight Ben Neumann survived an early onslaught of wild punches and takedowns courtesy of Jordon Larson, as he wore out the Phoenix-based brawler to the point of near-exhaustion. When Larson missed a kimura attempt against the cage, Neumann dragged him down, applied a brabo choke and forced the tap. The official time of the submission came at 4:01 of Round 2.

Lightweight prospect Bobby Lee nearly starched Damion Shehan as soon as their fight began when he floored the Iowan with a right hook to the face. Shehan fought off the incoming punches and attack with a series of leg locks, but Lee avoided them all and eventually pulled off a flawless armbar from mount to force the tap. The end came exactly 2:00 into the fight.

In the main card opener, Minnesota’s Mitch White scored a moderate upset by upending previously unbeaten bantamweight Antonio Sanchez. After a close first round, White opened a nasty gash above the Chicago fighter’s left eye, dragged Sanchez to the canvas and locked in a textbook guillotine choke to force the tap. The official time of the submission came 54 seconds into Round 2.