TOKYO, Aug. 27 — One day after holding the Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures)-Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) weigh-in and rules meeting, PRIDE held the weigh-in for the combatants in the Middleweight Grand Prix.
Both the Middleweight GP finals and the heavyweight championship are huge match-ups, each more than capable of supporting a separate event on their own. By splitting up the weigh-ins, it allowed the media to focus on the separate parts of one tremendous card.
PRIDE used the conference room adjacent to the one they used for yesterday’s heavyweight weigh-in. I wondered if it was going to be another media circus like the previous day, but this one seemed to be a bit more orderly. Rows of chairs were laid out in the conference room and the media were told they could occupy the first two.
Once all the reporters were seated, the officials allowed the members of the PRIDE fan club to enter. Apparently there had been a line up around the street of people wanting to get in to this preliminary event.
After everyone was seated, the PRIDE music started and the fighters for the Middleweight GP and reserve bout entered from the doors behind the audience. The room was filled with the gasps and cameras flashed throughout. The fighters took their seats at opposite sides of the room.
PRIDE Executive Director Nobuhiko Takada (Pictures) addressed the crowd, followed by DSE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara. Then began the weigh-ins.
First up was Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures), followed by Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures). Both of these guys seemed relaxed and didn’t have a lot to say. Igor looked slender, yet still very built and strong. Nakamura, to the amusement of the Japanese fans, flashed a peace sign after stepping off the scale. The two fighters assumed a fighting stance aside each other for a photo-op, shook hands, and then walked back to their seats.
Next up were Alistair Overeem (Pictures) and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Overeem looked absolutely ripped, not a trace of fat on his body. He stepped up to the scale with his large wooden hammer slung over his shoulder. He was told that he was three kilograms overweight and that he should drop the hammer. With it set aside him, he came in at the limit. Shogun gave a huge flex after stepping off the scale. Once again the fighters took a fighting stance for the press, but there was no hand shaking at the end, just a look of rivalry.
Last up were Ricardo Arona (Pictures) and Wanderlei Silva (Pictures). You could just tell as these two walked towards the scale that there was no love lost between them. After the weigh-in the fighters assumed their fighting stances aside each other.
This is where things started to get tense.
After a few moments posing for the cameras, the fighters locked into a heated stare down. You could see that some strong words where being exchanged between them. The crowd really came alive at this point. For a second I thought an altercation might break out right there. But eventually the two fighters took their seats.
Later, Sherdog.com asked some of the Brazilian media in attendance what it was Silva and Arona said to each other. Basically some verbal insults were mixed in with the utterance, “We’ll see on Sunday.”