Inside Gerald Meerschaert’s bag of submission tricks

Ask any serious MMA follower to name the top five submission fighters in UFC history and you’ll have Charles Oliveira (15 submissions) and Demian Maia (11) thrown back at you before the question is fully out of your mouth. They’re No. 1 and No. 2. They’re easy to list.

After that, there will be a pause while the fan pieces together that Jim Miller — in piling up the most Octagon appearances of any fighter (39) — has ended many of those contests (10) with his opponents tapping out. He owns third place.

Fourth place might stump some folks, honestly. It’s Nate Diaz (9). We associate him with some of the sport’s most iconic submissions — the stunning choke-out of Conor McGregor in 2016, the hilariously vulgar double-bird triangle of Kurt Pellegrino in 2008.

That leaves just fifth place, where two fighters are tied. While MMA diehards might be able to produce one of the names, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir, there’s little chance they would get the other. Give even the most devoted fans all day and they’re still not coming up with Gerald Meerschaert.

The middleweight from Milwaukee has had eight submissions inside the Octagon, twice as many as the next active 185-pounder in line. That’s eight subs in nine UFC victories — and Meerschaert’s other win was also a finish. A body-kick TKO of Eric Spicely in 2017 spoiled his perfect tapout record.

Meerschaert (34-14, 9-6 in the UFC) has a chance to add to his submission total on Saturday in Las Vegas when he opens the UFC Fight Night main card against Krzysztof Jotko (23-5, 10-5 UFC). The Pole has tapped out only once in his career, back in 2014.

But Meerschaert, true to one of his nicknames (The Machine), always finds a way. Over his 15-year career in MMA, Meerschaert has had more submissions than can be counted. Literally.

The reliable MMA record keepers at Tapology and Sherdog list him with 26 submissions among his 34 victories. Most of the tapouts have come via rear-naked choke and guillotine choke, but his…