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If they were playing hoops tomorrow in Washington, D.C., Pat Barry and Demetrious Johnson would be in big trouble. They're not, so Stefan Struve and Dominick Cruz have a lot to worry about in their fights against what appears to be shrimpy opponents.
Cruz, the UFC's bantamweight champ has excelled because of his confusing herky, jerky movement and cardio. At 5-foot-8, he towers over the 5-3 Johnson, but the little guy is easily the most active fighter he's ever faced. UFC analyst Joe Rogan put it perfectly during the weigh-ins.
"Strap yourself in. This might be the fastest paced fight in the history of the the UFC," said Rogan.
If Johnson looked tiny against Cruz, it's to even put into words the difference between Struve and his 5-11 opponent Pat Barry. The 243-pound Barry is short for a heavyweight, but today was ridiculous. Barry actually stood on the scale to initially stare down with the 6-11 Struve. When he got off the scale, you could see Barry is really going to have to chop down the giant with his powerful kicks.
Both fighters appeared to be in great shape. Barry lost his conditioning a bit at UFC 115 when he weighed in around 250. Struve, who debuted with the UFC at UFC 95 at 240 pounds, is now all the way up to 261.
The heavyweights have the luxury of not really cutting weight, that's not the case for Anthony Johnson. A massive welterweight, who walks around at over 200 pounds looked good at 171, but also appeared extremely relieved. Johnson has missed on two previous occasions with the UFC.
The funniest moment of the weigh-in came from Yves Edwards. Celebrating his 35th birthday, Edwards came out with party favors and a tray of strawberry cupcakes.
One fighter missed weight. Byron Bloodworth, making his UFC debut clocked in at 138 for his bantamweight fight. Mike Easton agreed to allow Bloodworth to stay at 138 and was awarded 20 percent of his opponent's purse.
This is a big bounce-back card for several fighters. Barry, Edwards and Shane Roller were all knocked out pretty badly in their last fights. Tomorrow night, marks the return of Josh Neer. Neer fought 10 times for the UFC, going 4-6. He hit the minors and compiled a 6-1 record to make his way back. The best fight of the night may be a rematch of a controversial finish at UFC 115. Referee Yves Lavigne made a bad call in awarding a quick submission finish to Wiman.
UFC on Versus 6 (courtesy MMAjunkie):
MAIN CARD (Versus)
Champ Dominick Cruz (135) vs. Demetrious Johnson (135)
Pat Barry (243) vs. Stefan Struve (261)
Charlie Brenneman (171) vs. Anthony Johnson (171)
Mac Danzig (155) vs. Matt Wiman (156)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook)
Yves Edwards (155) vs. Rafaello Oliveira (155)
Michael Johnson (156) vs. Paul Sass (155)
Byron Bloodworth (138) vs. Mike Easton (135)
T.J. Grant (155) vs. Shane Roller (156)
Josh Neer (171) vs. Keith Wisniewski (170)
Joseph Sandoval (134) vs. Walel Watson (134.5)