For two rounds, Trevin Giles did a good job of defending the submission attempts from Gerald Meerschaert, who has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But in round three of their middleweight bout in Newark (UFC on ESPN 5), Meerschaert finally managed to lock in the guillotine choke and put his opponent to sleep.
It started shakey for Meerschaert, who folded to the mat in the beginning of the fight from a powerful right hand from Giles. But that was really the only big shot of the fight.
It was clear Meerschaert wanted this fight to take place on the mat and even though the crwod grew restless, he gave them what they wanted: a finish. With the fight up for grabs in round three, Meerschaert landed a big kick to the body of Giles before going for another takedown attempt. Giles managed to defend the initial attempt, but ended up getting tripped to the mat.
Meerschaert continued to work for position, eventually locking in the power guillotine at 1:49 in round three. Giles actually tapped, but referee Herb Dean, who was on the opposite side missed it. Giles eventually succombed to the choke and went to sleep, but thankfully Dean noticed the limp arm and called it.
This would've been a tough one to score had it gone to the judge's decision, but Meerschaert's veteran presence convinced yet another young fighter to play his game.