Kamaru Usman expects his version of normal at UFC Fight Night 124 – dominate Emil Meek

ST. LOUIS – Kamaru Usman may not have been in love with the matchup he was given for UFC Fight Night 124 (he wanted Colby Covington), but now that the fight is here, it’s business as usual.

And for Usman, that means doing what he’s been able to do for the first six fights of his UFC career.

“The feeling is: A fight is a fight,” Usman told MMAjunkie earlier this week. “I need to go out there and do my job and do what I do best, which is dominate from start to finish.”

Usman (11-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) meets Emil Meek (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on the main card of UFC Fight Night 124, which takes place Sunday at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. It’s the UFC’s first trip to St. Louis. The card airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

In July 2015, Usman won Season 21 of “The Ultimate Fighter” when he submitted Hayder Hassan. After that, he put together four straight dominant unanimous decision wins before he finally got another UFC finish.

This past September in Pittsburgh, he knocked out Sergio Moraes with one punch in the first round. Now looking to build on that, he meets Norway’s Meek, who has been putting in work in Las Vegas at the UFC Performance Institute. But Usman doesn’t believe that gives his opponent any kind of supposed advantage.

“There’s no leg up. There’s no recipe. There’s no secret to this – you get out of it what you put in, and I put in more than every last one of these guys,” Usman said. “I haven’t lost a second in any fight I’ve been in. I’m doing the right things that I need to do, and the results are proving that.

“I train like I’m fighting for the title each and every time, which is why I get the results that I get. My preparation is always the same. At the end of the day, you’re locked in with a problem – with me.”

Meek is returning after more than a year away. He made his promotional debut at UFC 206 in December 2016 and topped Jordan Mein. But an injury kept him out of his second UFC fight this past May, and his booking with Usman, originally scheduled for UFC 219 two weeks ago, was pushed to this event.

Meek made his mark on the MMA world when he knocked out UFC veteran Rousimar Palhares to win Venator’s welterweight title. That ultimately got him the call from the UFC. After nothing but finishes the first eight wins of his career, he went the distance to beat Mein.

But Usman said he knows he has a tough guy in front of him, even if he’s more than a 6-1 favorite.

“He’s a tough fighter,” Usman said. “He likes to fight. He likes the violence of the fight. That’s great. You kind of need that in a sense. But skill for skill, I excel in every avenue better than he does. It’s not always the toughest guy that wins these fights. We know that.”

For more from Usman, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 124, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.