FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

Emil Meek Is Looking to Put Norwegian MMA on the Map at UFC 206

We caught up with MMA’s favorite Viking to discuss his upcoming UFC debut against Jordan Mein and the welterweight landscape after the promotion’s first show in New York City.

Photos by Olav Stubberud

Emil "Valhalla" Meek without doubt made a splash on both the European MMA circuit and on the world stage in 2016. Beating Rousimar Palhares, a seemingly unstoppable man seen as mixed martial arts' chief pariah by many for his various submission-related transgressions over the years, would certainly do the trick.

Besides Meek himself and his die-hard travelling "Valhalla Army," who made the trip over to the Venator event in Italy, you would be hard-pressed to have found any MMA pundits or fans who gave the Norwegian fighter a chance against the beastly Brazilian leglock specialist. Meek, however, made light work of Palhares, swiftly knocking his opponent out in brutally impressive fashion.

Advertisement

Diving for his patented heel hook submission, Palhares met his maker in the elbows and fists of Meek. Palhares' much-publicised coming out party at Venator—which came after a controversial defection from World Series of Fighting following a two-year fighting ban handed out by the Nevada Athletic Commission and ignoring calls to serve that suspension—had been ruined and a Norwegian fighting star was born.

It's hard to ignore someone like Valhalla. Heavily bearded and proudly carrying a Viking-style battleaxe on his way to the cage, Meek's last name certainly poses a hefty juxtaposition to the English meaning of the word.

So how has life treated Meek since taking that big chance against Palhares—a man no one on the European fighting circuit wanted any part on? "Life has been great. I've acquired a few upgrades since the Palhares and life is treating me very well these days, I'd say," Meek told Fightland.

"I now have a nicer apartment closer to the gym. I had a small one-room apartment before and I was pretty much sleeping on the railway so when trains would pass, my whole flat would shake. I also have a new car. My old car wasn't worth much so it's nice to have something safe to drive in so I don't risk my life—and the public's—on the road every time I'm driving. I had it nice before, but it's better to know my hard work has paid off so far and I can now live without fear of not being able to pay the rent."

Advertisement

When we last spoke to Meek, he received an email from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva enquiring about his services as we were recording our interview. This wasn't typical bluster from an outspoken fighter—not long after the article went live; Meek was indeed signed to the UFC roster.

Meek was supposed to make his UFC debut in September on the UFC Fight Night 93 card in Hamburg, Germany, against fellow UFC newcomer Jessin Ayari. However, the Norwegian pulled himself off the card to help safeguard a potential United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation which could have occurred due to some medical treatment he received ahead of signing for the UFC.

The official UFC statement read at the time: "As part of the athlete onboarding process, Emil Meek voluntarily disclosed medical treatment he received prior to signing with UFC that is potentially out of compliance with UFC's Anti-Doping Policy. As a result, Meek will not compete in his previously scheduled bout on September 3, 2016 in Hamburg, Germany in order to allow him time to consult with his physician and evaluate his medical treatment.

"Given Meek's medical treatment occurred before his signing with UFC, he is not subject to any potential anti-doping violations under the policy relating to that treatment. However, UFC is requiring Meek to be enrolled in USADA's registered testing pool for a period of four months before he is placed on a fight card in the future."

Advertisement

The wait would have been agonizing for Meek, given his natural keenness to compete, as well as the increasing media interest in his native homeland of Norway. Now, on December 10th, Meek will realize his dream of competing on a UFC show—a big one at that: UFC 206 in Toronto, Canada, against welterweight mainstay Jordan Mein.

When questioned whether coverage of MMA has increased in Norway or not, Meek replied. "Oh yeah—absolutely. Like I said to you before, I feel like it's my mission to get MMA to all the people in Norway and help build its popularity over here and get the sport to a level where everybody knows what MMA is. After the Palhares victory, the sport has been catapulted and the media are showing not only me and my Norwegian colleagues a lot more attention. We're getting more sponsorship deals, TV time and online articles so it's been really positive."

This rise in media coverage is welcomed by Meek, who actually reached out to me for our first interview back in May. However, while he feels at home in the UFC already, he feels uncomfortable when called a UFC fighter at this stage. "It feels natural to be on the UFC roster," Meek said. "I feel like I've earned and it will feel great to finally step into the Octagon. A lot of people are already calling me a UFC fighter, but I don't think I can call myself that until I actually step in there and fight on a UFC show. But, come December, I will officially become a UFC fighter and I'm excited."

Advertisement

Canada's Mein is certainly a stern test for Meek's debut showing inside the UFC's Octagon. Just turned 27-years-old, Mein is an impressively experienced 39-pro fight veteran of MMA, having made his professional debut aged 16. By the age of 22, Mein had fought big names in Jason High, Josh Burkman, Marius Zaromskis and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos—beating the latter three. Mein has a combined UFC and Strikeforce record of 5-3, defeating the likes of Mike Pyle and Dan Miller in addition to Cyborg, but those three losses came against serious top-level competition in Matt Brown, Thiago Alves and the current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley by a split decision.

Mein briefly retired after the Alves loss back in August 2015, but he is making his return to the cage to welcome Meek to the big show. Despite fighting a monster in Palhares in his last outing, Meek is under no illusions that Mein is a lesser opponent—in fact, Meek feels Mein is a step up in competition.

"Jordan Mein is a big threat," Meek said. "He has so much experience in this sport and he's been fighting top, top guys for a long time. He's got around 40 fights and is only a year younger than me, so he's definitely got the experience advantage and it would be stupid not to respect him for that. He is a real tough guy and he is one of the best in the welterweight division. I would say he is the best unranked welterweight fighter in the world and I think he's only unranked because of the break he took away from the sport.

Advertisement

"He returned and had an unfortunate loss to Thiago Alves in his latest fight, where he was totally dominating his opponent in the first round and then lost after taking a nasty kick to the body in the second round. Mein would probably win against Alves eight out of 10 times if he faced him again. Mein's last two losses have come against really tough guys like Tyron Woodley in a decision and Matt Brown by TKO after almost finishing him in the first round. Mein has only ever lost to the top, top guys he's been put up against and he is very underrated. He doesn't make a lot of noise or post much on social media so I feel he flies under the radar, but he's a really fucking tough guy.

"In MMA, your next fight is always your biggest and most important one. Palhares was a huge step up for me and it launched me into this UFC world, while opening a lot of people's eyes. Of course, Palhares was a huge fight, but Jordan Mein is a totally different fighter. Palhares a strong, stocky little guy who wants to rip your leg off. Mein is a taller, more technical fighter. Mein probably doesn't even feel nervous ahead of a fight at this point as he's been in there so many times before. It's a huge step up in competition for me and it will be a whole different world for me to fight in front of 20,000 people in Toronto. He's done it before, I haven't. Fighting wise, he's a talented, technical striker. I'm also a striker, but I'm a stronger guy with better cardio and hopefully a harder head! This will be a tough fight for us both.

Advertisement

"Actually, I would say this is a much harder fight than the Palhares fight and if I win, I feel I have a case to enter the top 15 of the UFC welterweight rankings. That's why I am here—I am here to fight the top guys. It's a huge risk for me to fight Mein with all his experience, but I will never regret taking a risk. I took one against Palhares and look how that worked out for me. Beating Mein would take me to the next level and I'm not afraid of taking a chance. I want to be a legend of the sport in Norway."

Meek had mentioned in the past how he wanted to be the Norwegian equivalent of Sweden's Alexander Gustafsson and Ireland's two-weight UFC world champion Conor McGregor—being a nation's star to inspire a nation of younger fighters and help guide the UFC to holding an event in Norway—tricky, given the tricky legal situation regarding fight sports in the country. McGregor is the perfect model to copy in that regard.

Given the presence of McGregor and a welterweight title fight between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson, Meek followed the UFC's inaugural New York City show, UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, with plenty of scrutiny.

Meek may have yet to have stepped into the Octagon, but there's no doubting he was sizing up his potential future opponents last Saturday. "Fighting Jordan Mein, if I beat him I feel I will be facing someone in the top 10 so it's only natural to watch these guys with interest," said Meek. "Hopefully I will be up there with them one day so I always watch to see if these fighters make any mistakes I can seize upon or good things I can steal from them. Stealing is the best tool you can use in MMA.

"I think Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson had a fantastic fight. I really thought Wonderboy would get the better of Woodley and I felt he would dominate every round—I really couldn't see how Woodley could possibly win that fight. But, Woodley got the early takedown by catching Thompson's leg and I think that made Thompson hesitate from then on. Woodley was great at keeping Thompson guessing—Woodley is a big, strong guy and if he gets on top of you, you're screwed. It was a great fight from both guys."

With the UFC's first show in the Big Apple over with, the entirety of Meek's focus is on UFC 206 in Toronto and beyond. Though, while the majority of time is being dedicated to his training regimen, he is also thinking about his brand. As ever, Meek's travelling Valhalla Army is set to make an appearance in Canada, but there may be some bad news for those who are looking forward to his usual Viking-style walkout.

"We are starting to launch the Valhalla Army once again," said Meek. "I hope to have around 30 people making the trip over to Toronto from Norway so there will definitely be some Vikings there on the Saturday night. I am not sure whether I can take my axe with me—my lawyer asked the UFC and he is yet to hear a response yet. But, maybe in the weigh-ins I can take it in with me. It's a real axe, but it's blunted so it's not as if you can cut anyone with it. Though, you could most definitely kill someone with it, I guess. It may take longer, though."

"Hopefully I walk in there with a fresh victory. But, I really want to take a vacation after this fight to get some sun on me, because it's so fucking dark in Norway right now. We get around two hours of daylight and it's excruciating. You wake up to go to practice and it's dark and you leave practice and it's still dark. I need to go to some warmer countries. Saying that, I saw the UFC is doing a show in London in March so I'm interested to fight on that card. Europe is much easier for my fans to come and see me so that sounds like an interesting opportunity." If Meek can get past a tough competitor in Mein, he will have certainly earned his holiday.