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Emil Weber Meek Rides Into UFC 206 With Valhalla Army Behind Him

Emil Weber Meek Rides Into UFC 206 With Valhalla Army Behind Him

Emil Weber Meek will look to represent Norway strong in his promotional debut at UFC 206.

Dec 9, 2016 by Jim Edwards
Emil Weber Meek Rides Into UFC 206 With Valhalla Army Behind Him
Emil Weber Meek might not be the most well-known name on the UFC 206 fight card, but this man has an army back in Norway—the Valhalla Army.

Speaking to FloCombat at the UFC 206 media day today, the Norwegian welterweight talked about why his UFC debut had been delayed after he was forced to pull out of his fight at UFC Fight Night 93 in Hamburg.

“We just had a situation where we didn’t want to get in trouble with USADA,” Meek said. “We had to get all my medication declared and all that stuff. We didn’t violate anything with USADA and what not, but we had to wait a little.”

Meek was signed to the UFC after defeating Rousimar Palhares back at Venator FC 3 in May. The Norwegian defeated the highly-fancied Brazilian via first round TKO and got the attention of both the world media and the UFC with his impressive performance.

“It was amazing—it was the final step into the UFC for me,” Meek said. “It was a great experience and the guys at Venator FC are super friendly and were very good to me. They have real nice guys and have a really good show. There were former UFC fighters there and everything. The atmosphere I had there with my Valhalla army and all the people rooting for me was just amazing.”

The Valhalla Army is Meek’s loyal support who have travelled all over Europe supporting his career so far. While he isn’t expecting the traveling support to be as strong this weekend, he could still feel the support of his nation back home.

“We got some coming over, maybe a few people, but they might not stand out as much as they did in Italy because this time the audience will be multiplied by ten,” Meek said. “It’s a little harder to stand out, but when I next fight in Europe they are going to take over everything.

“I really appreciate their support. The whole country is standing behind me and supporting me forward. It feels awesome and we are going to let everyone in the world know that we have solid fighters in Norway.”

His opponent on Saturday night, Jordan Mein, is returning from retirement to take on the Norwegian debutant. Meek said today he was expecting a hard battle and that he was taking nothing for granted.

“He’s a veteran and he’s one of the best fighters in the division,” Meek said. “He deserves to be ranked in the top 15 and he only lost to the top ten guys in the world like Tyron Woodley and Matt Brown and Thiago Alves.

“To get the opportunity to fight a guy like this is a big opportunity for me to shine—big risk, high reward.”