Being a high-quality MMA fighter is difficult when you have the ones like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Connor McGregor around. It is further challenging to become a decent fighter when you come from a country like Norway, which is not particularly famous for top MMA athletes.
There are exceptions everywhere, of course, and Emil Meek is one of them. Standing at 189cm, Meek is one of the best Norwegian fighters, and this article will examine his career from the very beginning to recent events.
The story of Emil Meek
Emil “Valhalla” Meek was born in 1988 in Trondheim and later moved to Oslo. He was known for his strength, though he did not make a debut until 2011. He started his career as an amateur fighter and managed to win all six matches he had.
On March 12, 2011, Meek made a professional debut against Magnus Frekman. The fight ended pretty quickly in 45 seconds via technical knockout. The second fight was against Mohammed Abdallah, which Meek lost by TKO in the first round.
This fight was motivational for him, and he won 4 consecutive matches after that. In 2013 Meek received an award called Prospect of the Year.
On August 20, 2016, Meek clinched the Welterweight title by successfully defeating Rousimar Palhares in the first round. The fight was a masterclass from Norwegian – executing a series of punches on the opponent while avoiding takedown attempts. He became so popular in Norway that a number of local bookmakers stopped offering their local oddsbonus promotions in their MMA betting sections as the players would bet even when there was no promotion in place. You know there are several options in MMA, apart from guessing the winner, including if TKO occurs, how long the duration will be, etc. and sportsbooks offered exclusive bonuses to those, who made bets on Meek.
Moving to Ultimate Fighting Championship
On December 10, 2016, Meek fought with experienced Jordan Mein at UFC 206. The fight ended with Meek winning by unanimous decision. The match was a debut in UFC for Norwegian.
On May 28, 2017, it was anticipated that Meek would face Nordine Taleb; however, he pulled out of the fight due to an injury.
He was also expected to face American Kamaru Usman in 2017, but the fight was moved to January 14, 2018. Meek lost the fight by unanimous decision.
On July 22, 2018, he held another match against Polish Bartosz Fabinski at UFC 134, and he lost it again.
In total Meek amassed 14 fights(9 wins) in MMA, 7 of which he won by knockout, and in 1 match he did not compete.
The next fight is scheduled to take place on February 23, 2020, against Jake Matthews where the latter is considered a massive favorite because he is yet to lose a match in MMA.
Most people think that this year will be a turning point for Norwegian, as he has a chance to revitalize himself.
Though not having particularly great results, Meek still managed to achieve a lot. He helped to promote MMA in Norway and step by step this sport is developing in the country as well.