My producer from 106.7 The Fan, Othello Bouchareb (@OthelloB) and I (@MMANation) were in attendance today for the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva weigh-ins. All of the stars were there: Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva, Andrei Arlovski and Sergei Kharitonov. Obviously reserve bout fighters Shane del Rosario and Lavar Johnson were on hand as well.
Strikeforce: Fedor Vs. Silva Weigh-In Pictures
My impressions? Here are a few:
Fedor was obviously smaller than Bigfoot. 34 pounds less to be precise. But in person I didn't get the sense that the weight would necessarily be overwhelming, at least in the standing portion of the game. In fact, that's to Fedor's benefit there. On the ground, however, Silva will know how to use his considerable weight advantage to pinning effect. Here's ESPN's Josh Gross on what the difference could mean:
RT @mpelaezmma @JoshGrossESPN I imagine that is Fedor's natural weight and Silva's cut weight ... Bigfoot should be 275+ tomorrow night.
Josh Gross
JoshGrossESPN
Andrei Arlovski and Sergei Kharitonov looked roughly equivalent in size. My prediction doesn't change based on what I saw today.
The crowd today at the weigh-ins was smaller than what some may expect from UFC weigh-ins, but they were equally energetic. The media attention was heightened as well. Just around me media from Brazil and Russia were speaking their native tongues just before the events kicked off.
The biggest pop of the evening belonged to Fedor by a mile. Other notable fighters like Arlovski received fan fare, but nothing even approaching what "The Last Emperor" was able to pull.
- The IZOD Center is a monster pain in the ass to get to.
- Given that tomorrow night's main card consists solely only of heavyweights, the action should move fast. Heavyweights can sometimes move the fight along slowly, but they also have the unique capacity to end it quickly.
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