parties

There's a lot more to UFC 90 than the fights on Saturday. Here's all you need to know to make your weekend in Chicago truly epic.

FRIDAY

UFC AUTOGRAPH SESSION
Where: Swissotel, 323 E. Wacker Drive
Lowdown: Clay Guida, Dan Henderson, Rashad Evans and Miguel Torres will be hanging with fans from 10 a.m. to noon. Props to Maggie H. at Yahoo! MMA Experts, whose tourist-friendly guide to Chicago is also worth checking out. Portillo's FTMFW.

UFC 90 WEIGH-INS
Where: Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.
Lowdown: Free and open to the public. Doors are at 3 p.m. CT, and the fighters start hitting the scales at 4. Good luck, Thiago!

JOE ROGAN LIVE
Where: Zanies, 230 Hawthorn Village Commons; Vernon Hills
Lowdown: The night before every UFC event, Joe Rogan traditionally books a standup appearance at a local comedy club. Though Zanies is a little off the beaten path — Vernon Hills is about 35 minutes away the Allstate Arena — it'll be a great place to mingle with other fun-loving UFC fans on Friday. Joe's set starts at 8 p.m.; tix are $25 and there's a two-item (food/drink) miminum. Coincidentally, Carlos Mensteala will be doing appearances at the Rosemont Theatre this weekend. Could we be seeing a repeat of this scene at some point?

COMBATLIFESTYLE.COM ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY
Where: Spy Bar, 646 N. Franklin St.
Lowdown: If you've ever wanted to be in the background of one of Tracy Lee's party pics, here's your chance. The photo blog known for pictures of fighters eating and hot females posing turns a year old, and the word is that some well-known fighters will be helping them celebrate. Festivities kick off at 11:30, so you'll have more than enough time to make it over after Rogan tells his last joke.

After the jump: So many after parties, so little time...

("I told you this shit was gonna get crazy!")

We received word this morning that former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra has been booked to host a UFC 88 viewing party at The 40/40 Club this Saturday night in New York City. The 'BG' half of this CagePotato operation will be in attendance, so if you're a New Yorker/Northern New Jerseyan and you haven't decided where to watch the event yet, consider swinging by and raising a drink witcha boy. More details to come...

If you're planning on attending UFC 84 in person, there are at least two after parties scheduled with big names attached as hosts: You've got the UFC's #1 ring girl Arianny Celeste making an appearance at Hawaiian Tropic Zone, and Dana White (no photo available) hosting the official "Ill Will" jammy-jam at Privé. In case you're having trouble deciding, we'll run it down for you.

Arianny's party has an open vodka-bar for ladies until midnight (i.e., awesomely drunk girls); Privé offers no such hookup. Both clubs will surely feature hot bartenders, but the ones at Hawaiian Tropic Zone will all be wearing bikinis. When Arianny eventually shows up and makes her way to the velvet-roped VIP section, she'll probably be rolling in with Edith Labelle, and their hot friends, and any fighters they're friendly with (and Ariel Helwani, probably!). When Dana shows up just before closing time, he'll be in a sour mood from whatever Tito's post-fight t-shirt slogan is, and he'll be trailed by the TUF 7 castoffs who followed him in just to kiss his ass. On the other hand, everybody wearing an Affliction shirt will be denied entrance at the UFC's official afterparty, which could significantly decrease the douchebag ratio.

Questions?

Answering yesterday's call for first-hand stories about the UFC 79 viewing party at Madison Square Garden, a CagePotato reader named Serafin wrote in with the following:

"I was at the MSG show for UFC 79. I gotta say that although the place was empty as sh*t, the crowd that was there (guessing about 700 at most and that can be a bit generous as I don't know for sure what the numbers were) was hyped up at seeing Matt Serra and Forrest Griffin. Everybody seemed to have enjoyed themselves and were badgering all the fighters with questions about when the UFC is going to do a show at The Garden. A lot of people just dont seem to understand the politics and craptastic attempts of the NY State Athletic Comission to keep MMA out of this part of the northeast. Funny, cause when you really look at things....Jersey has been having shows for quite a while and it's where we got a chance to see Frankie Ed.....ok I take that back. Not a great point but a point nonetheless."

So to summarize: Good times, but even less-attended than earlier reports suggesting that 1,000 people would show up. Damn, with those numbers they should have just reserved a block of tables at ESPN Zone and held the party there. Anyway, big ups to Serafin. If you have any follow-up questions, leave 'em in the comments section and we'll try to squeeze more info out of the dude.