By James Brydon, Sportsnet.ca
MONTREAL — Friday was the first chance for Canadian mixed martial arts fans to get a up-close look at their favourite UFC fighters in one of their own buildings. And they showed up in droves.
All 22 fighters scheduled to take part in the first-ever UFC event in Canada on Saturday made weight in front of what was announced to be a record crowd at the official weigh-ins for UFC 83: St. Pierre vs. Serra 2 on Friday.
The quarter of the Bell Centre that was portioned off was practically filled to capacity, even in the upper decks. And when Montreal’s Georges St. Pierre, who will take on Matt Serra for the welterweight title, was announced and he walked toward the stage where the scale was set up, the estimated crowd of well over 4,000 erupted into cheers and chants of “GSP! GSP!”
Serra followed and somewhat surprisingly didn’t initially receive overwhelming boos. But after the two fighters, who each weighed in at 169.5 pounds, half a pound under the weight limit, posed and answered questions from UFC announcer Mike Goldberg, the crowd did their best to drown out Serra’s responses.
“If you’re pissed right now, wait until after Saturday night,” said Serra, who added he’ll have his cornerman keep the car running in case he does manage to pull off an upset.
St. Pierre, the overwhelming favourite to recapture the 170-pound title, called this experience the “best ever, ever, ever, ever” of his career, and doesn’t intend on disappointing any fans.
“Don’t believe the hype,” St. Pierre said. “Believe what you will see Saturday night.”
He added that his performance won’t be affected by any past comments from Serra, who became public enemy No. 1 in Montreal for referring to St. Pierre as “Frenchy.” Beating him will be payback enough.
“I don’t fight with anger but with my heart,” St. Pierre said.
Despite the verbal jabs, which the UFC has highly publicized, the two were very amicable when they stood for the traditional face-off pose.
That wasn’t the case with Michael Bisping and Charles McCarthy, who had to be restrained by UFC president Dana White after their times on the scale.
Bisping, who weighed in right on the number for his 185-pound debut, got the most mixed reaction on the night, hearing a resounding amount of cheers and at the same time plenty of boos. The Englishman is a highly outspoken character, and he and McCarthy got into a war of words in the past couple of weeks.
McCarthy came in at 186, acceptable for a non-title fight, but he needed to drop his trunks to make it. A towel was held up in front of him as he stood on the scale, drawing jeers from the crowd.
The other match-up featuring guys with a bit of bad blood was the all-Canadian pairing of Jason MacDonald and Joe Doerksen. Weighing in at 184.5, Doerksen, from Winnipeg, got a fair amount of applause, but it was clear that the fighter from Red Deer, Alta., was the bigger fan favourite. MacDonald (185) is looking to beat Doerksen for the second time, and the two have each felt disrespected by the other. Fortunately, Friday’s staredown went on without incident.
Apart from St. Pierre, the man who may have gotten the biggest cheers from the crowd was former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. The American Franklin (185.5) has a strong fan following, even in Canada.
His opponent Travis Lutter, on the other hand drew boos as expected. There was a certain anticipation for his turn on the scale after he failed to make weight in his last bout against UFC champion Anderson Silva over a year ago. There was no problem this time, as he came in right on the number.
All the Canadians got big cheers, especially local guys Jonathan Goulet (169.5) from Victoriaville, Que., and London, Ont.’s Sam Stout (155.5).
The other Canadians on the card are Toronto’s Mark Bocek (154.5), Lethbridge, Alta.’s Jason Day (183.5) and B.C.’s Kalib Starnes (186), who also needed to drop his shorts to ensure he made weight within one pound.
Full weigh-in results:
Georges St. Pierre (169.5) vs. Matt Serra (169.5)
Rich Franklin (Pictures) (185.5) vs. Travis Lutter (185)
Michael Bisping (185.5) vs. Charles McCarthy (186)
Mark Bocek (154.5) vs. Mac Danzig (154.5)
Kalib Starnes (185.5) vs. Nate Quarry (186)
Jason MacDonald (185) vs. Joe Doerksen (184.5)
Jason Day (183.5) vs. Alan Belcher (185)
Demian Maia (184.5) vs. Ed Herman (185.5)
Rich Clementi (155) vs. Sam Stout (155.5)
Brad Morris (225.5) vs. Cain Velasquez (235.5)
Kuniyoshi Hironaka (170) vs. Jonathan Goulet (169.5)
