When people think of the top Canadian welterweight MMA fighters, the two names that immediately come to mind are of course UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and his training partner Rory MacDonald. But after this weekend, expect Jordan Mein to be added to that list. The 23-year-old native of Lethbridge, Alberta, takes on tough veteran Dan Miller in a preliminary matchup at this weekend’s UFC 158 event, which takes place March 16th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. The fight will mark Mein’s UFC debut, but don’t expect this to be his last fight in the Octagon, as the youngster has a very bright future in the UFC. Saturday night is, in actuality, only the beginning. The son of pro fighter Lee Mein, Jordan started fighting professionally when he was just 16-years-old and is already the owner of a stellar 26-8 record (including 14 wins by T/KO and seven by submission). For someone his age, that resume is astonishing. In his very first pro fight back in 2006, Mein fought MacDonald at a Canadian regional show, back when the two of them were nobodies. MacDonald may have submitted him with a rear-naked choke, but since then Mein has shown that he has nearly just as much potential as his more famous fellow Canuck. Mein is currently on an 8-2 run, with the only losses coming to the top-ranked Tyron Woodley and to fellow UFC welterweight Jason High; the wins during that period have come over former UFC fighters Forrest Petz (TKO), Marius Zaromskis (DEC), Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (TKO), Josh Burkman (DEC), Tyler Stinson (DEC), and Joe Riggs (KO). Yes, Mein is good. Very good in fact, and this Saturday night’s bout against Dan Miller could be his coming-out party. When the lines opened today at Several Bookmakers, Mein opened as a -230 favorite, with Miller coming in as a +170 underdog. The public’s early money came in on Miller, bringing Mein down to a -170 price tag, and in my opinion that’s a steal for a fighter who I believe wins this matchup at least 75 percent of the time. I suppose the public believes that Mein has holes in his ground game and that’s why they came in on Miller, who is a BJJ black belt and one of the slickest submission fighters in the UFC welterweight division. After all, of Mein’s eight career defeats, four have come by way of tapout, and Woodley and High defeated him by taking him to the ground and controlling him there. But Mein hasn’t been submitted in 20 fights going all the way back to 2008 despite fighting a high-level of competition. And even though Woodley and High beat him with their wrestling, keep in mind those are two of the best takedown artists in the welterweight division, and also remember that Mein did enough damage off his back against Woodley to take the fight to a split decision. And in the standup department, Mein is light years ahead of Miller. His arsenal of Muay Thai and boxing attacks is something to behold — go watch his last fight against Petz at Score Fighting Series 7 to see just how dangerous this kid is with all eight of his points (I was in Hamilton for that fight and I must admit it was one of the most beautiful displays of violence I’ve ever seen in an MMA cage). I have a lot of respect for Miller. He is a tough guy who has been through a lot in his life and he never complains, always trains hard, always come into fights in shape and prepared, and always leaves it all in the cage. He is a guy that is dangerous for the full 15 minutes — he was losing his last fight against Ricardo Funch only to come back in the third round and win via submission — and someone who will always have a place in the UFC because he is always looking for the finish. But this is Mein’s time. And on Saturday night, the world will finally see what I and numerous other observers of the sport have been saying for a few years now — that he can one day be the UFC welterweight champion of the world.
