Video: Ontario commission forced UFC 206's Emil Meek to hack off beard; here's the emotional video

TORONTO – Emil Meek was seemingly having a swell time while in Canada for his first UFC fight – and then he was forced to give up something special in his life.

Meek has been in a rather upbeat mood as he prepares for tonight’s UFC 206 event at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, and during Thursday’s media day, he talked about the need for getting noticed (watch the video above) – before providing some levity at the face-offs after going shirtless.

However, prior to Friday’s UFC 206 official weigh-ins, Meek received some unfortunate news. To be cleared for his pay-per-view main-card opener against fellow welterweight Jordan Mein (29-10 MMA, 3-2 UFC), Meek (8-2-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was told he needed to shave his beard. He wasn’t happy about it, but he complied (via Facebook):

First, though, was a touching and emotional farewell video (via Twitter):

Meek, who earned some notoriety earlier this year after knocking out former WSOF champ Rousimar Palhares, today posted the aftermath. Thankfully, it was more of a trim than a shave:

For more on UFC 206, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.