The weigh-ins are complete and the tally is set.
Saturday’s UFC 146, the organization’s first-ever all-heavyweight pay-per-view card, officially features 2,485 pounds of fighter as all main card competitors made weight Friday.
At the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was 239 pounds, while challenger Frank Mir, a two-time former title-holder was slightly heavier at 261 pounds.
“Dos Santos knows what it’s like to be the champ. I’m going to try to take that away from him,” Mir said after weighing in. “I think it will be a fast explosive fight.”
The champ agreed, but had a word of warning for Mir.
“I’m ready for this fight. If he’s not ready, it’s going to be a fast fight,” Dos Santos said.
The heaviest of the 10 was co-main event fighter, and UFC newcomer, Antonio Silva, who was just under the limit at 264 pounds. He’ll have the biggest size advantage over his opponent on the night, as former champion Cain Velasquez, who lost the belt to Dos Santos in their last fight in November, weighed in at a “slim” 240 pounds.
Roy (Big Country) Nelson will also have a slight edge in the weight department, as the beefy fighter stepped on the scale at 254 pounds, while opponent Dave (Pee Wee) Herman was the lightest at 233 pounds.
“Fans have been going nuts for this all-heavyweight card,” UFC president Dana White said. “You’ve got 10 of the baddest men on the entire planet all going at it, including Junior dos Santos looking for some revenge against the man who just broke his mentor’s arm in Frank Mir.
“I’m looking forward to some brutal knockouts and some great submissions on Saturday night.”
Full weigh-in results
MAIN CARD (PPV, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT):
Junior dos Santos (239) vs. Frank Mir (261)
Cain Velasquez (240) vs. Antonio Silva (264)
Roy Nelson (254) vs. Dave Herman (233)
Stipe Miocic (245) vs. Shane del Rosario (246)
Stefan Struve (255) vs. Lavar Johnson (248)
UNDERCARD (Sportsnet, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT):
Diego Brandao (145) vs. Darren Elkins (145)
Edson Barboza (155) vs. Jamie Varner (156)
CB Dollaway (186) vs. Jason Miller (185)
Dan Hardy (170) vs. Duane Ludwig (171)
PRELIMINARY FIGHTS (Facebook)
Paul Sass (156) vs. Jacob Volkmann (155)
Kyle Kingsbury (205) vs. Glover Teixeira (204)
Mike Brown (145) vs. Daniel Pineda (146)
LATE ADDITIONS: Saturday’s card underwent a lot of reshuffling. So much so that the UFC called on Johnson, who will be fighting for the second time in three weeks. Johnson, who will meet Struve in the first fight of the main card, is coming off a win over Pat Barry at the UFC on FOX show on May 5 in N.J.
Meanwhile, Herman, the second-to-last addition, is the third opponent to be matched up against Nelson, after Silva and Gabriel Gonzaga. Not necessarily known for solid training or striking fundamentals, Herman, who is coming off a defeat by TKO to Struve in February, feels he’s evolved as a fighter.
“Last fight, I lost, but it was the first fight where I actually kept my hands up and looked like I knew what I was doing striking,” Herman quipped. “I’ve been working on that and trying to improve.”
STATS GALORE: Earlier this week, the UFC provided an online version of its event program. It has also made available some in-depth stats packages. Here are stat sheets for each of the five heavyweight fights on Saturday’s main card:
JDS-Mir | Cain-Silva | Nelson-Herman | SDR-Miocic | Struve-Johnson
MIR SCIENCE: One person who may be looking closely at the stats sheets is Mir himself. Asked about the suggestion that his striking is the weakness of his game, Mir said: “I have to approach it from a very scientific point of view. I have the (fifth) highest percentage of striking of any of the heavyweights who have ever fought in the UFC. That means there’s a lot of guys that suck real bad if they’re behind me.”
QUOTABLE: Mir, on whether he thinks he’ll be able to handle the early pressure from Dos Santos, said Thursday: “I have three kids and a stepchild and I have a very strong-willed — to put it politely — wife, so I’m kind of always mentally prepared, I’m always knowing how to deal with chaos and relax, and go to the little cave with the penguin and chill out all the time.”
