I just wanted to give a quick rundown of my impressions from attending the weigh-ins for Saturday evening’s fights.
– Antonio Silva is big. Like, you know it from looking at him on TV but he is one of those guys who when you see him in person you really appreciate just how big he really is. He walked by me when I was hanging out in the media area before the general public was allowed in the building and it was an absolute “wow!” moment.
– The public turned out in good numbers. When I first entered the building (roughly an hour before the scheduled doors open time) the line was already pretty long. It wasn’t exactly full capacity once everyone was let in the building but it was enough people to give it a “big time” feel.
– Mark Miller and Gegard Mousasi may have been the happiest (non-heavyweight) fighters I’ve ever seen before a weigh in. Mousasi had trouble getting in the building with all the photo requests, but was generally pleasant and spent the pre-weigh in time walking around socializing. Mark Miller was running around doing various things, laughing and jogging. Neither guy appeared to have any problem getting to weight.
– Deray Davis has some crazy reach. I’d like to see the actual numbers on his reach but I swear to god it looked like his arms could reach from one side of the stage to the other. If he is able to use that length effectively Mark Miller is in for a fight.
– Brett Rogers is serious. Rogers showed up in very good shape. He didn’t look like he was draining himself to get to 265 and actually looked quite slim compared to normal. There was a moment where he gave Fedor an “I know something you don’t” type of smile. What does that mean for the fight? Probably nothing. But it was still interesting to see.