Edmen Shahbazyan is ready to show everything he has been working on when he steps back in the octagon at UFC Vegas 96.
‘The Golden Boy’ will face gritty submission specialist, Gerald Meerschaert, at the UFC Apex on Saturday night, with both men looking to return to the form they found themselves in when they first signed with the promotion.
Many have the contest down as potentially being a striker vs. grappler affair, but Shahbazyan looks at it slightly differently. Previewing the contest whilst talking to the media, he said:
“I think it's more of finisher versus finisher. I think it makes for a very exciting fight. Training camp has been amazing, going off of the last one, skill building on the last one. So, yeah, it's always been great. Now I'm ready.”
Although struggling to build momentum over his recent bouts, Meerschaert proves to be a tricky opponent for everyone that steps in there with him. Shahbazyan sees Meerschaert bringing out the best of him when they meet.
“He's had lots of fights in the UFC like myself and yeah. Finisher versus finisher. I think it excites me. You know, it's an exciting fight and these are the type of fights that really get me motivated to work even harder to show my skills against a guy like him.”
After three consecutive losses against Derek Brunson, Jack Hermansson and Nassourdine Imavov, ‘The Golden Boy’ snapped his losing streak with a win against Dalcha Lungiambula. However, he found himself back on the wrong side of a result in his very next bout with a loss to Anthony Hernandez. Undeterred, he bounced back to the win column once more in his first fight of 2024 with a stunning first round stoppage against AJ Dobson.
Although the Dodson bout only lasted a little over four minutes, Shahbazyan managed to take a lot from the contest and expressed his delight at getting back to winning ways once more.
“(It) Felt good. (It) Felt good. You know, especially going through the adversity in that fight. Coming back after he caught me with a good shot. But yeah, it was definitely a good learning experience for me and yeah, I'm here to do even better now!”
In 2022, Shahbazyan made the decision to switch gyms and made the move to Xtreme Couture, under the tutelage of Eric Nicksick. The 26-year-old explained how he believes the move has helped his growth as an athlete.
“It's helped me tremendously. You know, a group of guys there that are always killers and that come (with) 100% every time. It's awesome. And obviously, we have the champ there, Sean (Strickland), former champ. He's a good leader for the team as well. So, yeah, it's a good group of guys that are always pushing each other.”
