Off Guard: With Gray Maynard by his side, Emil Meek vows to be better than ever at UFC Auckland

Seventeen months after his last octagon appearance, Norwegian welterweight Emil Meek is ready to return to action, and he has a UFC legend in his corner.

Meek (9-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) takes on Australia’s Jake Matthews in a welterweight contest Saturday (Sunday locally) at UFC on ESPN+ 26 in Auckland, New Zealand, and says the guidance he’s received from former UFC lightweight title challenger Gray Maynard has taken him to a new level.

“I’ve got Gray Maynard in my corner, and that’s something special for me,” Meek told MMA Junkie in Las Vegas. “He’s a legend of the sport, and everything he does it’s like he tailor-made for me. It’s like he makes up the tricks just for me.

“He’s done all the mistakes, and he’s done all the right things that he can do. Stupid Vikings like me, I go full retard all day, training my butt off, always wanting to do more, more, more, more. He’s good at pulling me back.”

The key to Meek’s improvement under Maynard is the ability to identify small tweaks and improvements to “Valhalla’s” game that he thinks will prove decisive the next time he steps into the cage.

“I was doing a lot of the right stuff, but then I got over here and started working with Gray, and it was like an epiphany,” Meek said. “Everything is coming together now, and he’s been telling me, ‘It’s small adjustments here and there, (and) you can beat the top guys.’ Everything is coming together and yeah, it’s like Valhalla 2.0 this time.”

Meek is making his return on a two-fight skid after 2018 losses to current champion Kamaru Usman and Poland’s Bartosz Fabinski. But in Matthews (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) he thinks he has the perfect opponent to return against.

“The UFC I think finally were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to give this guy something he really wants,'” Meek said with a laugh. “Jake Matthews has won four of his last five fights. He’s probably one of the better non-ranked fighters in the UFC. He’s just getting up there. This is a great matchup for me.”

Meek’s unanimous decision loss to Usman at UFC Fight Night 124 in January 2018 may have put an L on his record. But on reflection, he said, the experience of going the distance with the man who later claimed the title is one that gives him optimism for his future prospects in the UFC’s 170-pound division.

“When I fought Kamaru, no one else wanted to fight him,” he said. “He has been dominating everyone in the UFC; he has won every single round. With me, I couldn’t wait to get in there and prove myself against one of the best in the world. He crushed a couple of ranked UFC welterweights, then he claimed the title from the champion, Tyron Woodley, in very good fashion. Now he’s smashed Colby’s face luckily. I’ll never be satisfied with a loss, but I also see where my value is. I can actually be there with the very best guys, and that gives me a chip on my shoulder. It’s just small adjustments.”