Julius Walker appeared to barely break a sweat, scoring a needed and dominant victory over Gerald Meerschaert in the featured prelim bout of UFC Vegas 122.
Meerschaert, who competed in his 60th pro fight and was making his light heavyweight debut, took his gloves off after the fight, signaling his retirement.
Meerschaert circled on the outside while Walker looked to walk him down. After a brief pause for a low blow, Walker landed a combination that featured a left hand that stunned Meerschaert.
Walker then pinned Meerschaert to the fence and brought him to the mat, landing a barrage of strikes and avoiding a desperation armbar attempt from Meerschaert, while also attempting an arm-triangle choke at one point, to cap off a dominant first round.
Walker pressured Meerschaert to the fence again immediately at the start of round two. On the ground, Walker went for a kimura, with Meerschaert responding with a triangle attempt from the bottom. The fight got back to the feet with about two minutes left in the round, only for Walker to bring the fight right back to the ground.
Walker then landed another barrage of strikes to the head before referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight.
Walker is now 8-3 as a pro and 2-3 in the UFC. He came into this fight off an eight-second loss to Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev earlier this year.
Meerschaert made his professional MMA debut back in 2007. He went 24-8 on the regional scene before making his UFC debut in December 2016.
Despite ending his career on six straight losses and 2-8 in his last 10 fights, Meerschaert earned a number of notable wins in his UFC tenure. These include fights against Edmen Shahbazyan, Bryan Barberena and Bruno Silva. Meerschaert has also fought against Khamzat Chimaev, Thiago Santos, Jack Hermansson, Kevin Holland, Eryk Anders, Joe Pyfer, and Reinier de Ridder.
