UFC 158 weigh-in: Hometown crowd wild for Georges St. Pierre

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, March 15, 2013 | 3:30 p.m.

MONTREAL — They filled every available seat at the Bell Centre and surrendered their voices when he came out to the stage.

The enormous following Georges St. Pierre commands in his hometown was on full display at Friday’s UFC 158 weigh-in.

One young child even dressed up as St. Pierre, complete with the gi and headband the welterweight champion wears during his walk to the octagon and a replica UFC belt.

“I can talk as much as I want,” St. Pierre said in his final comments before facing Nick Diaz. “But tomorrow, I’m going to walk the walk. That’s all I can say.”

The fans got one tense moment involving their hero, but it was fleeting. Diaz pushed St. Pierre’s arm down with his elbow when the champion approached for the face-off photo.

The move fit with a history of confrontations during weigh-ins with Diaz, but UFC President Dana White didn’t let this one get very far. White jumped in between the two rivals, only giving the rows of photographers a couple frames to catch the usual stare-down pose.

St. Pierre (170), Diaz (169) and the other 22 fighters on the card had no issues with the scale. Everyone made weight.

“I’m going to get out there and fight,” Diaz said. “We’re going to see what’s going to happen.”

Much like the last time St. Pierre weighed in for a fight here, his opponent wasn’t booed much. A couple sections of fans, in fact, stood and applauded Diaz as he came out.

With younger brother Nate Diaz by his side, Nick made sure to point out his Stockton, Calif., sweatshirt and PRIDE T-shirt. Diaz often rants about his hometown and the superiority of the old Japanese fight promotion’s rules over the UFC’s current ones.

Pay-per-view fighters Johny Hendricks (171) and Jake Ellenberger (170) resorted to the oldest weigh-in trick to gain fans, sporting gear of the hometown team. Both Hendricks and Ellenberger, who were supposed to face each other before an injury shook the card up, wore Montreal Canadiens jerseys.

Hendricks still failed to get a response as loud as the one for opponent Carlos Condit (169), who may have gained some respect around here with the way he fought St. Pierre last November.

St. Pierre and his teammate, lightweight Mike Ricci (156), were the only fighters who sounded more popular than Condit. Ricci came out in a Tristar, the gym where he and St. Pierre train, shirt. He posed intensely with opponent Colin Fletcher (155) and declined a handshake afterward.

Ricci and Fletcher, who wore his customary clown mask, open the pay-per-view card at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Check below for full results from the UFC 158 weigh-in.

Welterweight championship bout: Georges St. Pierre (170) vs. Nick Diaz (169)

Welterweight bout: Carlos Condit (169) vs. Johny Hendricks (171)

Welterweight bout: Jake Ellenberger (170) vs. Nate Marquardt (171)

Middleweight bout: Nick Ring (183) vs. Chris Camozzi (185)

Lightweight bout: Mike Ricci (156) vs. Colin Fletcher (155)

Welterweight bout: Patrick Cote (170) vs. Bobby Voelker (169)

Bantamweight bout: Antonio Carlvaho (145) vs. Darren Elkins (145)

Welterweight bout: Dan Miller (171) vs. Jordan Mein (170)

Lightweight bout: John Makdessi (155) vs. Daron Cruickshank (155)

Welterweight bout: Rick Story (169) vs. Quinn Mulhern (168)

Bantamweight bout: T.J. Dillashaw (135) vs. Issei Tamura (135)

Bantamweight bout: George Roop (135) vs. Reuben Duran (135)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.