UFC Vegas 53 results: Krzysztof Jotko dominates Gerald Meerschaert to win unanimous decision

Krzysztof Jotko didn’t get a finish but he put on a dominant performance over three rounds to beat Gerald Meerschaert in the opening fight on the UFC Vegas 53 main card.

Whether he was striking or grappling, Jotko exerted his will on Meerschaert in nearly every exchange, which helped him win every round on the scorecards. All three judges gave him the fight with identical 30-27 scores as Jotko moves to 5-1 over his past six fights.

“I hope the fight was good and people enjoyed,” Jotko said afterwards. “My game plan was knock him out, put him away but I feel I can take him down whenever I want. My timing was much better than his.”

Jotko was showcasing fast hands from the first exchange as he sought to overwhelm Meerschaert with his striking attacks. With a much slower opponent in front of him, Jotko was mixing up his combinations with several stiff kicks right up the middle coming at Meerschaert as well.

As time passed, Meerschaert was looking to close the distance and he did manage to drag the fight to the ground but Jotko was able to negate the wrestling attempts with great scrambles to consistently get back to his feet.

While he was more effective when he had room to work, Jotko was also staying very busy in the clinch with short inside punches and elbows. He even managed to toss Meerschaert to the canvas as he continued to diversify his offense to rack up points on the judges’ scorecards.

Jotko’s dominance continued through the final round as he stayed a step ahead of Meerschaert at every turn as he thwarted every attempt at a comeback. It was a complete performance from the veteran middleweight as he added another victory to his UFC resume.