UFC 175 weigh-in: No Fourth of July fracas; fighters on best behavior

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, July 4, 2014 | 6 p.m.

They saved the fireworks for night.

The 22 fighters competing at tomorrow’s UFC 175 weighed in without any explosions in the middle of the afternoon on the Fourth of July. No one missed weight or had any fiery exchanges with their opponents.

Even Ronda Rousey (135), the notoriously intense women’s bantamweight champion, had a somewhat tame stare-down with challenger Alexis Davis (135).

“This is the biggest weigh-in I’ve ever been to,” Rousey said looking out at the packed Mandalay Bay Events Center crowd. “The stakes have never been higher to me.”

The UFC always scales the entire arena to fit fans during the weigh-in on International Fight Week. In the event’s two prior years, conflicts have erupted before the fights.

Two years ago, there was the shoulder snipe from Anderson Silva to Chael Sonnen. Last year, there was the kiss from Silva to Chris Weidman.

But Weidman (185) and Lyoto Machida (184.5) kept it civil before their main-event middleweight championship bout, posing at distance for their faceoff and embracing afterward.

“He’s had a belt before,” Weidman said in his final comments before the fight. “He wants the belt back for him and his family, but I’m not giving him the belt back.”

Machida addressed the Brazilian fans in Portuguese before exiting the stage. That was one of two nods from Brazilian fighters to America’s biggest rival in mixed martial arts.

Ildemar Alcantara (170), who faces Kenny Robertson (170) in a welterweight bout, flaunted a Brazilian soccer jersey, presumably celebrating the team’s 2-1 victory over Colombia in the World Cup earlier in the day.

Stars and stripes made plenty of appearances, too. Several fans waved American flags in the stands as Rousey and Weidman made their way to the scale.

The first fighter to weigh-in, middleweight Bubba Bush (185), who takes on Kevin Casey (185) in UFC 175’s opener, came out in American flag shorts. Bantamweight Russell Doane (136), who meets Marcus Brimage (135.5), one-upped him by sporting an American wrestling singlet.

Weidman’s walkout shirt also incorporated red, white and blue. Many fighters were nationalistic, but they were also on their best behavior.

They’ll wait until fight time to ignite.

Check below for full results from the UFC 175 weigh-in.

Middleweight championship bout: Chris Weidman (185) vs. Lyoto Machida (184.5)

Women’s bantamweight championship bout: Ronda Rousey (135) vs. Alexis Davis (135)

Heavyweight bout: Stefan Struve (251.5) vs. Matt Mitrione (254)

Middleweight bout: Uriah Hall (185) vs. Thiago Santos (185)

Bantamweight bout: Marcus Brimage (135.5) vs. Russell Doane (136)

Bantamweight bout: Urijah Faber (136) vs. Alex Caceres (135)

Welterweight bout: Kenny Robertson (171) vs. Ildemar Alcantara (170)

Middleweight bout: Chris Camozzi (185) vs. Bruno Santos (185)

Bantamweight bout: George Roop (135) vs. Rob Font (135)

Middleweight bout: Luke Zachrich (185) vs. Guilherme Vasconcelos (185)

Middleweight bout: Kevin Casey (185) vs. Bubba Bush (185)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.