weigh-in

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The MGM Grand Garden Arena was a packed house for this afternoon’s UFC 94 weigh-ins.  Every fighter made weight, some after taking full advantage of the extra pound allowance for non-title bouts.  

Akihiro Gono got the crowd’s attention when he showed up in zebra shorts and an enormous Afro wig.  As a show of good sportsmanship before the staredown he offered the Afro wig to Jon Fitch, who accepted it and put it on his own head for the photo op.

B.J. Penn clocked in at a very svelte 168 pounds, just in case you forgot this wasn’t his natural weight class, while Georges St. Pierre was an even 170.

Said GSP after the weigh-in: “I’ve never been so excited for a fight.  I’ve never wanted to win so bad.  Tomorrow night, don't blink.  It's going to be a great fight.”

As for Penn, he said simply: "I'm ready.  I have nothing else to say.  Let's fight."

The most intense moment of the weigh-in occurred when Clay Guida and Nate Diaz finally came face to face.  A fired up Guida worked the crowd into a frenzy first, while Diaz came out to a chorus of boos second.  After both men made weight, Guida got right in the taller man’s face.  Diaz, naturally, continued mean-mugging Guida all the way off the stage.  Because for the Diaz brothers, it’s always personal.

Full results from the UFC 94 weigh-ins are after the jump.

Spend some quality family time with Dana White over the holidays.  Long story short, Dana White loves a good prank.  Even the same prank.  Over and over again.  Also, Dana White is riiiiiiiich.  So who's going to get pissed?  Not Rashad Evans, apparently.

Weigh-in video is after the jump.

Wanderlei Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson couldn’t just get up on the scales and call it a night.  Nope, there had to be a little extra curricular activity, just to further steal the show with their third fight.

It was an intense staredown to begin with after each man made weight at the MGM Grand this afternoon.  The two were nose to nose when Jackson said something that the microphones didn’t pick up, but it must have been naughty because Silva shoved him immediately.  If you want my guess, Rampage was pulling out one of his old bad breath jokes.  Silva has struggled long and hard with gingivitis, and dental stuff in general is a sensitive topic for him.  

Dana White quickly got between them, followed by almost everyone else on the stage, just to play up the drama.  I tell you, it was enough to make you miss Pride.

The rest of the weigh-in went smoothly and predictably.  Frank Mir got booed.  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Forrest Griffin both got very warm welcomes.  And all fighters made weight (though Dean Lister did have to strip down to hit 186).  The only other excitement was Cheick Kongo pulling the seventh-grade bully move of faking a lunge at Mostapha Al Turk during their staredown.  To his credit, Al Turk didn’t flinch.  Looks like Kongo won’t get those two free punches he was hoping for.

Full weigh-in results are after the jump.  Don't forget that we'll be liveblogging all the action Saturday night, so tune in early and often.

(Simpler times.)

The fighters weighed in for tomorrow night’s “Fight For The Troops” event (I’m really starting to wish there was a good abbreviation for that) this afternoon, and it was so close to being flawless until Luigi Fioravanti and Brodie Farber both came in over the limit for their welterweight bout.  Farber was 174 and Fioravanti was 173.5, so they’ll fight at a catch weight of 173.  Real nice, fellas.

The important thing is that headliners Josh Koscheck and Yoshiyuki Yoshida both made weight -- barely -- for their fight.  I hope Yoshida is ready to struggle through a good "U.S.A.!" chant.  Pro wrestling has led me to believe that it really demoralizes foreign fighters, and can sometimes even help an American get out of a sleeper hold. 

The full results from today's weigh-in, courtesy of UFC.com, are after the jump.  Be sure to keep it locked in on the Potato tomorrow night beginning at 9 pm EST, because we’ll be liveblogging the shit out of this thing.  And if you aren’t here to make clever quips in the comments section, who will?  Not Jon Lovitz.  Man, is he ever pissed at us.

('Fixing to go eat, son!')

Thiago Alves got a chubby monkey off his back and made weight by squeaking just under the wire at 171 this afternoon. Good to see some people can put down the fork when the pressure is on (yeah, that was a shot at you, Gina). The only UFC 90 fighter not to make weight today was Josh Burkman, who weighed in two pounds over at 173 for his preliminary bout with Pete Sell. The sad irony is that the former middleweight Sell was the fighter people were expecting to have trouble making the cut. He hit 170 right on the button for what Goldstein expects to be UFC 90's worst bout. Sure is off to a hell of a start.

Before today's weigh-in, Matt Hughes spoke to fans and answered some questions, as he's known to do. When asked about the Randy Couture/Brock Lesnar bout coming up at UFC 91, Hughes sided with Lesnar, saying: "The younger, stronger, better wrestler right now is going to win."

He also said he's voting for John McCain, for those of you who were wondering. Weird, I know. Full weigh-in results after the jump.