UFC 213 results: Thiago 'Marreta' Santos pounds out Gerald Meerschaert, calls out Gegard Mousasi

Thiago “Marreta” Santos hurt Gerald Meerschaert with punches early in their fight, but it took him another round to seal the deal.

With Meerschaert (26-9 MMA, 2-1 UFC) clearly wounded but surviving, Santos (15-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC) kept pouring on the punishment as he avoided his opponent’s increasingly desperate takedown attempts, until finally referee Marc Goddard had no choice but to call a halt to the action at the 2:04 mark of Round 2.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 213 event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of and a main card on pay-per-view.

Santos stung Meershcaert with a kick right away in this fight, which immediately prompted Meerschaert to try and take the fight to the mat. That would prove to be his strategy throughout the fight, but it only got him into more trouble as Santos defended well and then hammered away with punches once Meerschaert’s takedown attempts had stalled.

Meerschaert got a brief moment to collect himself after an accidental eye poke from Santos midway through the first, and by then Santos was leaking blood from a deep cut along his scalp. But as soon as the action commenced again it was Santos in control, hurting Meerschaert with his strikes from every angle.

By the second, Meerschaert’s attempts to take the fight down were far more obvious and thus more easily defended by Santos, and once those fell short they gave Santos the opportunity to unload with punches. With Meerschaert hurt and unable to do much more than cover up, Goddard stepped in just slightly over two minutes into the second frame, giving Santos the TKO victory.

After the fight, Santos used his in-cage interview to call for a rematch with Gegard Mousasi, a fighter he lost to one year ago to the day at UFC 200. But Santos took that fight on short notice as an injury replacement and now wants to fight Mousasi with a full camp.

The win makes it two in a row in the UFC for Santos. Meerschaert’s loss snaps a seven-fight winning streak.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 213 results include:

• Thiago “Marreta” Santos def. Gerald Meerschaert via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:04
• Belal Muhammad def. Jordan Mein via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Cody Stamann def. Terrion Ware via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Trevin Giles def. James Bochnovic via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 2:54

For complete coverage UFC 213, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Steven Marroco contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)