By Adam Martin

MONTREAL — He may only be 23 years old, but young Canadian prospect Jordan Mein certainly didn’t take a short cut to get to the UFC.

The native of Lethbridge, Alta., has been fighting in professional MMA since he was 16 years old, racking up a 26-8 record along the way (14 knockouts, seven submissions) for an incredible 81 per cent finishing rate. To put that number in perspective, it’s the same finishing rate of top-ranked Nick Diaz, and it’s higher than UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who both headline Saturday’s UFC 158 at Bell Centre in Montreal where Mein will officially make his Octagon debut.

Watch three hours of live UFC 158 preliminary fights on Sportsnet Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. Also catch bonus early prelims coverage on sportsnet.ca at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Mein might not be headlining the card this weekend, but that doesn’t mean fans shouldn’t pay attention to him. The ever-improving youngster, who fights tough veteran Dan Miller on the Sportsnet prelims, has won eight of his last nine fights, including victories over Forrest Petz, Marius Zaromskis, Josh Burkman, Joe Riggs, Tyler Stinson and Evangelista (Cyborg) Santos, with the only loss over that stretch coming to top-10 welterweight Tyron Woodley.

It was his last win over Petz in the main event of Score Fighting Series 7 — an 89-second destruction via one of the most vicious Muay Thai attacks ever seen in the cage — that really gained Mein the notice of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, and now the Canadian looks to prove he belongs with the best of the best when he makes his long-awaited UFC debut in just a few days.

“I feel amazing,” Mein told sportsnet.ca during an interview just two days before the biggest fight of his career. “I think I’m ready. I feel ready, I’m confident, and I’m ready to compete with the best in the world in the UFC.”

Mein, who is mature beyond his years, knows exactly how big of an opportunity this is, and that’s why he’s trained with the best of the best in preparation for Miller. He has worked with studs like Johny Hendricks, TJ Grant, and Nick Ring in order to up his game.

It was wrestling that was an especially big focus for him, as Mein’s recent losses to Woodley and Jason High were because his opponents were able to take him to the ground and grind him out. But after working with Hendricks, who is also competing at UFC 158 in a welterweight bout that could determine the next No. 1 contender, Mein is confident he can hold his own with another top wrestler like Miller.

“You gotta work on everything but working with strong wrestlers is always going to help out since it’s such a big part of the sport,” he said. “So working with a top athlete and a wrestler like Johny Hendricks was really key for me.”

Against Miller, Mein is fighting one of the most durable men in the sport today, someone who has endured just as much heartbreak inside the cage as he has outside of it yet continues to solider on with nary a complaint.

And that’s why Mein really did his homework for this fight, studying Miller at length in an attempt to gain every ounce of knowledge about his opponent that he can before the biggest fight of his life.

“Miller’s super tough and he has crazy guillotine — he almost twisted a guy’s head off in the IFL with it. Even in his last fight, he guillotined Ricardo Funch,” Mein said. “I’ve watched a ton of video on him, and I’ve been working a lot on keeping good head position in my fight. He’s durable and keeps constant pressure, so fighting fire with fire is going to be the key, just keeping on him.”

Although Miller is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Mein doesn’t hold a rank (he trains no-gi jiu-jitsu), he still believes he can hold his own on the ground.

“I believe I can grapple with him,” Mein said. “I believe it’s important to stay on top if you’re grappling with such a good opponent. It’s all about not putting my head in bad positions because he’s got a crazy guillotine and it’s one of his biggest threats so it’s been on of the key focuses in this last training camp.”

Miller is also known for taking fights into the deep waters, so Mein — who himself is known for having the gas tank to go the full 15 minutes — upped his cardio to the next level by doing more swimming, running and cycling than ever.

“I think cardio is always kind of a focus,” he said. “When you take care of your cardio, it gives you a lot of confidence knowing that you can go hard for three rounds. Everything else, all your techniques, it takes care of itself when you’re in the right shape and have the right cardio.”

And while Mein would prefer a finish, his first UFC fight is all about getting the win and moving on to bigger and better things.

“I’m looking for anything,” he said. “I’m looking for a win, but I’m looking to entertain the crowd especially because I have lots of friends and family here. I’m just looking to have a good showing.”

And should he be successful on Saturday night, Mein doesn’t want the UFC to do him any favours. He wants them to give him another tough guy so he can win that fight too and prove to the world he’s a legitimate title contender in the UFC’s stacked welterweight division, and on par with the best fighters Canada has to offer.

“If I beat Dan Miller, who’s had 11 or 12 fights in the UFC,” he said, “I want another fighter like him next.”