MONTREAL — For Georges St-Pierre, the last pre-fight hurdle in a 19-month long comeback has been cleared. All that remains now is the fight.
St-Pierre hit the welterweight limit on the nose, checking in at 170 pounds for what he hopes will be his seventh consecutive title defense. His UFC 154 challenger Carlos Condit came in one pound less at 169.
“Just to come back, I missed this so much you guys cannot believe I’m so excited for tomorrow,” St-Pierre said after stepping on the scale.
St-Pierre had a smile on his face for most of the brief time he was on the stage, consistent with his pre-fight statements that he’s enjoyed the entire process for the first time in several bouts.
Meanwhile, Condit seemed to revel in his status as the outsider coming into enemy territory, smiling at the description when stage announcer Joe Rogan reminded him of it.
“This fight is basically the culmination of a long time training and a lot of hard work,” he said. “I haven’t only been thinking about fighting Georges this last year, I’ve been thinking about it my entire career.”
The 28-year-old Condit is attempting to add the UFC belt to his collection, which already includes the UFC interim belt and the WEC championship.
Because of a Friday night Bob Dylan concert at the Bell Centre, the event weigh-ins were moved to the New City Gas nightclub, leading to a toned-down effect on the usually energetic proceedings.
Meanwhile, welterweights Johny Hendricks and Martin Kampmann will be fighting underneath St-Pierre and Condit with the hope of facing the winner for the belt. It hasn’t been explicitly stated that the winner will in fact be the No. 1 contender, only because if St-Pierre wins, he may take a super fight with Anderson Silva, but the possibility exists.
Both Hendricks and Kampmann weighed in at 171 for the co-main event bout. The 29-year-old Hendricks has won four straight while Kampmann has won three in a row.
In a middleweight featured fight, Francis Carmont (185) held a one-pound advantage over the colorful Tom Lawlor (184). Carmont will be attempting to capture his fourth straight victory and announce himself as a contender.
All 26 fighters made weight for the year’s first 13-bout UFC card.
Main Card
Georges St-Pierre (170) vs. Carlos Condit (169)
Johny Hendricks (171) vs. Martin Kampmann (171)
Tom Lawlor (184) vs. Francis Carmont (185)
Constantinos Philippou (185) vs. Nick Ring (184)
Mark Hominick (145) vs. Pablo Garza (145)
Preliminary Card
Patrick Cote (185) vs. Alessio Sakara (186)
Cyrille Diabate (206) vs. Chad Griggs (205)
Mark Bocek (156) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (155)
John Makdessi (155) vs. Sam Stout (154)
Antonio Carvalho (145) vs. Rodrigo Damm (145)
John Maguire (171) vs. Matt Riddle (170)
Azamat Gashimov (135) vs. Ivan Menjivar (135)
Darren Elkins (145) vs. Steven Siler (145)