TORONTO - UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre promised to make quick work of his opponent, Jake Shields, on Saturday night at the Rogers Centre.
“Don’t blink tomorrow,” he told thousands of screaming fans jammed into Ricoh Coliseum on Friday afternoon for the official UFC 129 weigh in festivities. “Don’t blink.”
And it was a festival. Only the UFC could attract 7,113 fans for a weigh-in. The Marlies would kill for that many to show up at the Ricoh for one of their regular season games.
There was rock music, big screen video presentations, bikini-clad babes ... everything the UFC does well.
St. Pierre tilted the scales at 169.5 pounds while Shields, who was roundly booed when he stepped on to the stage, came in at 169 — both comfortably under the 170-pound limit.
“GSP for Prime Minister!” a number of fans screamed as St. Pierre made his way around the stage.
Earlier, during a fan session at Ricoh featuring all seven UFC champions, the Quebec fighter further endeared himself to his Canadian fans when he said how proud he was to defend his title “in my country.”
If UFC 129 has proven anything — and it’s certainly proven that Toronto has an insatiable appetite for this stuff — it’s that UFC president Dana White was probably right when he said St. Pierre is the most popular athlete ever to come out of Canada. The level of adoration for the Montreal native is stunning. Everywhere you go at the Direct Energy Centre — site of this week’s UFC Expo — GSP’s image is there, on shirts, bandanas, posters. As White reiterated again on Friday, fans have come from every continent, with the exception of the Antarctic, to attend UFC 129, which will see 55,000 fans jam the Rogers Centre. And most of them are there for St. Pierre.
“And I’m actually surprised nobody’s made it from the Antarctic,” said White. “I thought somebody would.”
All the fighters for Saturday’s event, with the exception of lightweight Ben Henderson, who is fighting Canadian Mark Bocek on the main card, made weight. Henderson must have known his weight would be a problem when he arrived on the weigh-in stage, as he stripped right down to his birthday suit, prompting White and some associates to hold up a towel as he stepped on the scale. The bikini-clad UFC babes on the stage actually had to step to the side and avert their eyes as Henderson stripped down, further adding to the high drama.
Friday’s weigh-in topped what had been a crazy day down on the CNE grounds, with the UFC Expo going on next door to the Ricoh.
Earlier in the afternoon, at the DEC, White put on a question and answer session for the fans. Wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs T-shirt (naturally), the UFC czar paced back and forth on a stage like a caged lion, fielding questions and granting requests like a pumped-up Santa Claus.
His fans absolutely adore the man with a devotion bordering on hero worship. He may be the greatest living promoter in the world, this era’s P.T. Barnum, but his appeal clearly lies in the fact that he’s Everyman.
“I’m so f@#$%&g excited about this fight!” he screamed at one point.
White wants the fans to believe he’s one of them. And despite his millions and his international fame, he pulls it off, calling all the guys “brother” and repeatedly expressing his gratitude for their support.
To UFC devotees, he’s like the amiable school janitor who’s made it to the big time, and so they’ll ask him anything, and they don’t mind asking him for everything under the sun, including some very weird crap.
One particularly creepy fan asked White if he “could just get close to him” at an upcoming fight. If that’s Don King or Bob Arum, they’re calling security. White thanked the guy, though he did seem a little taken aback. He had to tell another fan to “calm down” and “relax” because the guy was essentially hyperventilating while asking his question.
And they all seem to want to tell him their life story. It’s bizarre.
At first, the fans limited their requests during the Q&A basically to tickets and backstage passes. But then it got a bit bizarre, prompting White at one point to say, “You guys are getting crazy.”
Some wanted to know how to get a job with UFC (apply online).
Another wanted to know if White would follow him on Twitter. Another asked if he could supply the card girls for Saturday’s fight. Yet another wanted his phone number. The crazy thing was, White was actually going to give it to him. In fact, White granted more requests than he turned down and he only turned down what he physically could not manage.
He actually agreed to let a fan place the championship belt around St. Pierre if the French Canadian beats Shields on Saturday night.
“F#$k it! I’ll do it!,” he screamed into the microphone.
Later, a guy mumbled something which White had difficulty comprehending. He finally said, “You’re asking me to hook you up for an illegal activity?”
Many of the requests, naturally, centered around St. Pierre.
One guy asked if he could meet GSP after the weigh-in. Another wanted to know if he could walk out with St. Pierre before the fight.
A guy asked if he could have GSP’s weigh-in shirt, for his girlfriend.
Yet another — and I’m not making this up — asked White how he felt the first time he “looked into St. Pierre’s eyes.”
“Now that’s kind of a weird question,” said White.
You think?
Article according to Steve Buffery
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/04/29/gsp-white-leave-fans-breathless
