John Morgan
WEC 48 main event fighters Jose Aldo (left) and Urijah Faber stare down during the official weigh-ins at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif.
Friday, April 23, 2010 | 5:24 p.m.
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SACRAMENTO — Urijah Faber received a big response from the small crowd that gathered at ARCO Arena for Friday's official weigh-ins when he came in at 144.5 pounds.
Imagine the noise they'll make if he's able to reclaim the WEC featherweight title Saturday night.
All 22 fighters on this weekend's Aldo vs. Faber pay-per-view card made weight Friday, setting the stage for what's expected to be the highest grossing event in WEC history.
The largest draw to the event is undoubtedly Faber, who thanked his hometown crowd for coming out Friday and promised to deliver a great show.
"What's up Sac-Town?" Faber said. "I can't wait. It's going to be a battle. Aldo is very good, but so am I. No way, Jose."
Aldo, who weighed in at 145 pounds, made a similar promise to the Sacramento crowd. The city already has served as site to two of the biggest moments of his career — his WEC debut in 2008 and his eight-second knockout of Cub Swanson last year.
"It's a huge fight," Aldo said. "Urijah Faber is a great champion. I think the fans are going to see what they want to see."
The crowd also gave warm welcomes to co-main event fighters Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson, who will meet in a rematch of what was arguably the best fight of 2009.
In one of the funnier moments of the weigh-in, Las Vegas-based lightweight Anthony Njokuani got away with mooning the crowd, when he turned his back to them while removing his shorts and let his boxers slide down.
Full Results:
Jose Aldo (145) vs Urijah Faber (144.5)
Ben Henderson (155) vs Donald Cerrone (154.5)
Mike Brown (146) vs Manny Gamburyan (146)
Anthony Njokuani (156) vs Shane Roller (155.5)
Antonio Banuelos (136) vs Scott Jorgensen (136)
Anthony Pettis (155.5) vs Alex Karalexis (156)
Chan Sung Jung (145.5) vs Leonard Garcia (145)
Demetrious Johnson (135) vs Brad Pickett (135.5)
Anthony Morrison (145) vs Chad Mendes (145.5)
Rani Yahya (136) vs Takeya Mizugaki (134.5)
Tyler Toner (145.5) vs Brandon Visher (144.5)
Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or [email protected].
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