The UFC 148 weigh-ins were electric, as Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen had to be separated after the champion shoved the challenger with his shoulder, while a crowd of thousands cheered uproariously.
Silva and Sonnen first met at UFC 117 in August 2010 in what was the fight of the year and their rematch, nearly two years in the making, is one of the most anticipated fights in Ultimate Fighting Championship history.
Sonnen has berated Silva and his native Brazil since before the first bout and the typically mild mannered Silva has had enough.
“I don’t respect Chael and Chael doesn’t respect nothing,” Silva said at the weigh-ins. “Chael doesn’t respect UFC and doesn’t respect my country. Tomorrow I’m going to fight.”
Sonnen did not seem phased after Silva drove his shoulder into the West Linn, Ore., native’s chin. Instead, he continued his professional wrestling-esque promotion.
“Champion vs. icon; myth vs. legend; Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen; fake guy vs. the real guy and only on pay-per-view,” Sonnen said.
The UFC is expecting upwards of one million PPV buys and with the hype surrounding the main event that is a very realistic expectation. Even casual fans of mixed martial arts are buzzing about this fight and are curious to see what will happen.
UFC 148 can be seen live on PPV Saturday starting at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.
The preliminary card can be seen live on Sportsnet Ontario, East, West and Pacific starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
In the co-main event, Tito Ortiz, who came to the weigh-ins donning a t-shirt that read, “Thank you for everything UFC,” will be fighting for the final time in his 15-year career as he takes on Forrest Griffin for a third time.
Three Canadians are set to compete on the card as well. French-Canadian power puncher Patrick Cote returns to the UFC after almost two years as he takes on former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le on the main card. Plus, Montreal’s Ivan Menjivar meets Mike Easton, and in preliminary action Duncan, B.C.’s John Alessio will battle WEC veteran Shane Roller.
Here are the complete UFC 148 weigh-in results:
MAIN CARD (PPV 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT)
— Anderson Silva (184) vs. Chael Sonnen (185)
— Forrest Griffin (204) vs. Tito Ortiz (204)
— Cung Le (185) vs. Canada Patrick Cote (185)
— Dong Hyun Kim (170) vs. Demian Maia (170)
— Chad Mendes (146) vs. Cody McKenzie (145)
— Ivan Menjivar (136) vs. Mike Easton (135)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Sportsnet 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT)
— Melvin Guillard (155) vs. Fabricio Camoes (156)
— Gleison Tibau (155) vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov (155)
— Constantinos Philippou (186) vs. Riki Fukuda (185)
— John Alessio (156) vs. Shane Roller (155)
— Rafaello Oliveira (156) vs. Yoislandy Izquierdo (156)
