Emil Meek says he's out of UFC Fight Night 109 fight with Nordine Taleb in Sweden

It looks like the UFC’s return to Sweden later this month has taken a hit on the main card.

Norway’s Emil Meek (9-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) on Thursday posted on his Instagram account that he has had to pull out of his welterweight fight against Nordine Taleb (12-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 109. UFC officials have not made a formal announcement of his withdrawal, and it is not known if they will seek out a replacement opponent to keep Taleb on the card.

UFC Fight Night 109 takes place May 28 at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. The entire event streams on UFC Fight Pass.

Kjære ValhallaArmy, er med et forbanna tungt krigerhjerte jeg må si at jeg må trekke meg fra matchen min i Stockholm… Lysken min ville ikke være med lengre og smertene under trening  er ikke til å leve med! Jeg må bare unnskylde til alle dere som har tenkt å ta turen over. Føler meg så jævla råtten, for det betyr så mye for meg at dere kommer å heier… Jeg kommer fortsatt til Stockholm for å heie, og for å møte alle som hadde tenkt å heie på meg<3 jeg="" lover="" at="" jeg="" fortsatt="" skal="" bli="" best,="" jeg="" er="" langt="" fra="" ferdig="" og="" jeg="" skal="" faen="" meg="" rive="" med="" meg="" et="" belte="" hjem="" til="" norge="" før="" det="" er="" over..="" emil=""><3>

A post shared by Emil Valhalla Meek (@emilvalhalla) on May 11, 2017 at 2:08pm PDT

Loosely translated, Meek’s message to his fanbase said he has pulled out of the fight with “a heavy heart” and that the pain he’s experiencing from an undisclosed injury during training is not something he can continue with. He apologized to fans already planning on traveling to see him fight, but concluded by saying he plans on being Norway’s first UFC champion.

“I promise I’ll still be the best,” he wrote. “I’m far from done and I’m gonna ride my belt home to Norway before it’s over.”

The 28-year-old Meek used a 2016 knockout win over Rousimar Palhares for a Venator FC welterweight title to score a UFC contract. In his promotional debut this past December, he picked up a unanimous-decision win over Jordan Mein, which marked his fourth straight victory.

Taleb, a 35-year-old Bellator vet and former Ring of Combat champion, joined the UFC in 2014. The Frenchman and Tristar Gym fighter went 4-1 in his first five fights, which included a knockout win over Erick Silva. However, in his most recent appearance, he suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC Fight Night 105 in February.

With the pending change, the UFC Fight Night 109 card includes:

MAIN CARD (FS1, 1 p.m. ET)

• Alexander Gustafsson vs. Glover Teixeira
• Misha Cirkunov vs. Volkan Oezdemir
• Ben Saunders vs. Peter Sobotta
• Omari Akhmedov vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
• Nordine Taleb vs. TBA
• Jack Hermansson vs. Alex Nicholson

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 11 a.m. ET)

• Pedro Munhoz vs. Damian Stasiak
• Jessin Ayari vs. Darren Till
• Chris Camozzi vs. Trevor Smith
• Nico Musoke vs. Bojan Velickovic

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 9:30 a.m. ET)

• Joaquim Silva vs. Mairbek Taisumov
• Damir Hadzovic vs. Marcin Held
• Christian Colombo vs. Damian Grabowski

For more on UFC Fight Night 109, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.