Emil Meek has secured the United States working visa that potentially could have ruled him out of his upcoming bout with surging welterweight contender Kamaru Usman.

The fighter nicknamed “Valhalla” has been training in Las Vegas since arriving in the U.S. earlier this month, splitting his work between the UFC Performance Institute and Xtreme Couture.

As far as the Norwegian welterweight is concerned, the rescheduling of the Usman bout from UFC 219 to UFC St. Louis, which falls two weeks later than the initial date, just gives him more time to prepare for the crucial contest.

“I’m glad that I followed through with my plan of getting to the US and training, and doing all that stuff regardless of knowing that the fight was going ahead of not,” he told MMAFighting.com.

“I’ve been preparing for Kamaru Usman since day one, so for me it doesn’t change all that much. I have two weeks extra to prepare for it, but that’s it.

“Of course, I’m happy, but for a long time it was hard to know what the future held. This is a good fight for me and I didn’t want to lose it for anything in the world.”

Meek has brought support from home to help keep morale up.

“Right now, I’ve got about 10 guys with me living in a house in Vegas. We’re having a lot of fun and it feels like it’s helping me get my work done. It’s good to have so many guys like this around me. They’re crazy, so it keeps me entertained,” he said.

“This is the kind of thing I always wanted to do for a big fight in the US, so we have a camera crew with us making video blogs of my preparation, which is a lot of fun.”

When Meek first discovered that he might not have been able to secure his visa before UFC 219, he contacted Usman and asked if their bout could be moved to UFC on FOX 26 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which took place on Dec. 16.

Speaking on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour, Usman claimed that he had no reason to grant Meek’s request as the fight did “absolutely nothing” for his career. Usman went on to describe Meek as “a nobody.”

Reacting to Usman’s comments, Meek said he had no interest in talking trash, but found it amusing given that he has a bigger social media following than Usman and Colby Covington combined.

“I don’t care about that,” stated Meek. “I know he sleeps on me. I know he wants to be the big guy at welterweight. The funny thing is, I have twice as much of a following than him and Colby Covington have together on my social media platforms.

“I know Usman has been on The Ultimate Fighter, but people don’t like him. He doesn’t seem like a nice guy.

“I’ve got nothing but respect for him as an athlete. I know he’s a tough fighter, I know I have to perform at my best to beat him, but I’m confident that I can do that and get the win.

“I’ve done everything in my power to be at my very best when we finally get in there. That’s all I can do, I’m not really into all of the talking and all of that sh*t.

“English is not my first language so I’m probably going to lose all those battles. I’m here to fight and to put on a show for the fans, my team and myself.”

Although Meek is embracing the underdog status ahead of the fight, he thinks that the only advantage Usman has on him is his Octagon experience. He believes his first-round win over deadly submission artist Rousimar Palhares in a Venator FC bout in May of last year is a bigger win than any scalp Usman has collected with the UFC.

“I love being an underdog. I accept that I’m the underdog – he’s got six wins in the UFC and I’ve got one – but I’ve beaten better guys than him,” he said.

“He hasn’t fought the top guys yet and I really don’t feel like he has beaten someone that has as big of a name as (Rousimar) Palhares. He hasn’t beat any of the high-ranked fighters. The level of opponent is the same, but he has more experience.”

Get an inside look at Meek’s camp through his countdown vlog, Valhalla Journey: