By Neil Davidson
THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — The bad blood between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort bubbled to the surface Friday at the weigh-in for UFC 126.
The two Brazilians, who were once training partners but clearly now have little time for each other, engaged in an intense staredown after Wednesday’s pre-fight news conference.
But Silva (27-4) turned up the heat even more Friday when he donned a white mask before he posed with Belfort after stepping off the scales before a lively crowd jammd into one end of the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
The costume accessory was clearly in response to Belfort’s comments earlier in the week that Silva’s cool attitude amounts to a mask and a bid to intimidate his opposition.
As the two stood face to face, UFC president Dana White eventually stepped in to separate the fighters. The mask came off and Silva and Belfort started jawing and pointing fingers at each other while others moved in to move keep them apart on the stage.
There was a smile on Silva’s face, as if he was enjoying getting under Belfort’s skin. Belfort (19-8) was clearly upset, although he tried to take the high road in an interview that followed on stage.
“I know him,” Belfort, speaking in English, said of Silva. “He’s a good man. But in the fight, he tries to impress and make the fighters afraid of him. So I’m going to do the fight tomorrow, that’s what he wants and that’s going to happen. We’re going to fight tomorrow.”
Silva, speaking through manager Ed Soares, promised to deliver Saturday night.
“You guys came here to watch a show. Vitor talks a lot and that’s what you’re going to see, is a show.”
Both fighters weighed in at 185 pounds.
Rising light-heavyweight star Jon (Bones) Jones was also hot when he squared off with Ryan (Darth) Bader. There was no handshake and Jones seemed to be seething with emotion.
Jones weighed in at 206 while Bader was 205.
Light-heavyweights Forrest Griffin (205) and Rich Franklin (203) did exchange handshakes after their staredown and Franklin even offered a smile. But Griffin was all business.
Welterweight Mike Pierce (172) was the only fight to miss his first try at making weight.
