The UFC has not been shy in claiming that this fight between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort is the biggest fight in the history of Brazil, and they very well may just be right. The weigh-ins today produced some of the best drama we’ve seen for a fight in a long time, and the great environment and crowd only added to what should be a highly anticipated event on Saturday night.
UFC 126 Silva vs Belfort Weigh-In Video:
QUICK NOTES:
Twitter Trends – During the UFC 126 weigh-ins, “Vitor” was trending in the States. “#UFC126“, “Vitor Belfort“, & “Anderson Silva” were trending in Brazil and have been for some time, while “Anderson Silva” was trending worldwide.
arielhelwani – Guess which show Anderson attended last night? JabbaWockeeZ. He went backstage afterward and they gave him the mask. Brilliant.
JeremyHeavyMMA – There were 5,500 fans at today’s weigh-ins. That’s huge.
alonsopvt – I’ve just talked to a Brazilian friend that don’t like mma and he said that he is shocked that everybody is talking about anderson x belfort
Attendance and Gate – It’s virtually sold out and projected as a $3 million plus gate. The UFC is re-directing all ticket requests to the $50 closed-circuit tickets at Mandalay Bay.
HDNet/HDNet Fights – Inside MMA made its LIVE debut at UFC 126 weigh-ins today.
WEIGH-INS:
MAIN EVENT – UFC Middleweight Championship
Vitor Belfort (185) VS Anderson Silva (185)
PPV
Rich Franklin (203) VS Forrest Griffin (205)
Ryan Bader (205) VS Jon Jones (206)
Carlos Eduardo Rocha (170) VS Jake Ellenberger (171)
Antonio Banuelos (136) VS Miguel Torres (136)
SPIKE PRELIMS
Paul Kelly (155) VS Donald Cerrone (155)
Michihiro Omigawa (146) VS Chad Mendes (146)
FACEBOOK PRELIM
Demetrious Johnson (136) VS Kid Yamamoto (135)
PRELIMS
Gabe Ruediger (155) VS Paul Taylor (156)
Ricardo Romero (205) VS Kyle Kingsbury (205)
Kenny Robertson (170) VS Mike Pierce (171*)
*Pierce made 171 on his second attempt after initially weighing in at 172 pounds.
Anderson “SPIDER” SIlva , Corinthians Brasil !!! BRAZIL WINS FOREVER!!!!!!!
I think its interesting that Demetrious Johnson is being sponsored by XBox and using his twitter to promote XBox’s Facebook.
By the way, I guess that’s the way you hype a main event.
Can anyone tell me the jersey Silva was wearing? I know it had his new sponsor on his sleeves but it looked like a Nike soccer jersey.
Jason:
Yup, very interesting about Demetrious Johnson being sponsored by Xbox and promoting their Facebook page.
I agree with Thiago Zago. I think Brazil will win the main event.
Is this the first fighter Xbox has sponsored? And is this a feeling out process for them or what? Nothing against Demetrious Johnson because I love him as a fighter but it seems like an odd choice for their first fighter to sponsor.
Or did that deal come together because his fight is airing on Facebook and they wanted to promote their Facebook page? Cause then it would make sense to me but that would mean the deal came about within the last couple days because it wasn’t announced till a few days ago that the fight was airing on Facebook.
Matt C.,
Those are pretty much our questions as well. We’ll keep an eye out for product placement and if he does any more sponsoring for them during the FB stream.
From Jason Cruz:
“Just dawned on me that Johnson’s gym is 10 mins from Microsoft’s campus in WA – perhaps the XBox 360 tie-in.”
UPDATE:
“Mendes” and “Omigawa” are trending in the Spike Prelims.