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Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica California – All 20 fighters of the historic UFC on FOX card have made weight.  The 9 fight preliminary card will start at 2pm PT/5pm ET on Facebook or FOX.com.  Then at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET, for the first time ever the UFC will be broadcasted on FOX with the spectacular Heavyweight tittle fight of Junior Dos Santos versus the champion Cain Velasquez.

Weigh in show starts at 09:15 of the video.

Full Weigh-In Results

Main Card (FOX)

265 lbs.: Champ Cain Velasquez (249) vs. Junior Dos Santos (239)

Preliminary Card (Facebook and/or FOX.com)

155 lbs.: Clay Guida (156) vs. Ben Henderson (156)
145 lbs.: Pablo Garza (145) vs. Dustin Poirier (146)
145 lbs.: Ricardo Lamas (145) vs. Cub Swanson (145)
170 lbs.: Clay Harvsion (169) vs. DaMarques Johnson (171)
135 lbs.: Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (135) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (135)
145 lbs.: Robert Peralta (145) vs. Mackens Semerzier (146)
135 lbs.: Alex Caceres (136) vs. Cole Escovedo (134)
170 lbs.: Paul Bradley (171) vs. Mike Pierce (171)
205 lbs.: Matt Lucas (203) vs. Aaron Rosa (204)

The UFC will treat us to two specials today. First up is the UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem “On Sale” Press Conference. The press conference will take place at the Santa Monica Pier beginning at approximately 2pm PT/5pm ET in Santa Monica, California. The UFC will announce the upcoming heavyweight headliner which is slated for the Dec. 30 pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada. Expected to attend are both headliners, Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem, as well as UFC President Dana White.

The press conference is free and open to the public. Stick around, because following the press conference, the UFC on FOX weigh ins for “Velasquez vs. Dos Santos,” which begins at 4pm PT/7pm ET at the same location.

Can’t wait until this Saturday (November 12, 2011) for the UFC on Fox 1 main event between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight championship. Well, you are in luck as THQ has brought us an official gameplay preview featuring Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos. Come Saturday night you may be feeling a tad bit of deja vu.

As usual the UFC held their conference call leading up to an event. Today was no different, with a media conference call for UFC on Fox 1. The call featured UFC President Dana White as well as the headlining fighters, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.

Below are media call notes for UFC on Fox 1 thanks to SBNation.com

UFC On Fox 1 Media Call Notes

Dana White:

- UFC on Fox 1 weigh-ins to be show live on Fuel TV on Friday.

- It’s going to be a completely different format than what we’ve done before. Fighters will be interviewed before they come out.

- From a production standpoint, we’ll be rehearsing starting Thursday to get ready for a Saturday fight.

- We’re aggressively going after Mexico, but it’s hard to navigate another country. It’s tough to maneuver and get things done.

- We’re going to keep doing pay-per-view, but I grew up as a boxing fan. When ppv model came out, boxing stopped putting big fights on free TV. Our goal is to bring, big free fights back to television.

- It’s an investment in the future of the business to put this on free TV, not PPV.

- I’m confident in JDS and Cain. We made this the first fight on TV for a reason. This is going to be an awesome fight. There’s a lot of pressure to go in there and pull this off, make this right.

- Traditional sports, a lot of the things that we do on our show isn’t what is normal.

- UFC 134 was so successful is how we ended up getting this deal on Globo.

- I don’t know about weigh-ins, but fights will be in a number of countries. Will air on Rogers SportsNet in Canada.

- The amount of talent of TUF Brazil is going to create is going to be phenomenal. But my goal is to do a world cup of TUF where each country’s winner faces off.

- The whole format is going to change for the new TUF. We’ll be filming live for 13 weeks. We’ll go right into the finale.

- We wouldn’t do a deal with any network unless we had control of production. On the same note, we respect Fox. We’re not in business until January and they’ve already been the greatest partners we’ve ever had.

Cain Velasquez:

- It’s natural for me to be a little nervous. No more butterflies than usual.

- I’ve been treating it like the other fights I’ve already had. I just think about what’s going on in the gym.

- For me, it’s a great opportunity. I’m hoping to make it an exciting for the fans. JDS is a great opponent.

- With every fight it feels like it gets more and more in terms of media. It hasn’t been overwhelming. It’s been just the right amount. I’ve been happy with it.

- The rehab went fine. More on this later…

- I like to see as much video and footage on my opponents as possible. Every little bit helps.

-A big part of training camp, the kind of guys we brought in, we have multiple guys that we spar with, not just one guy. Paul Buentello, guys from other camps came in. Usually when I spar, I spar with two other guys and that’s tougher.

Junior dos Santos:

- I have waited a long time for this fight. It was a little tough to wait, physically I feel so good. I want to keep showing good things.

- I’m very happy to be a part of this event. Globo is the eye of the Brazil, it means to be part of the growth of the sport.

- Everything happened very fast in terms of getting pciked up by the UFC. If you work hard and you’re a good person, good things happen to you. I started training in jiu-jitsu less than 6 years ago.

- Nothing has changed. I am a very focused guy. At the end of the day, every man needs luck and I am lucky guy.

- I am very proud to be a part of history. I am proud of my work and dedication that have brought me to this point. I truly believe is the best heavyweight in the world. It’s an honor to be fighting him. I am thankful for the opportunity.

- I believe we reap what we sow. You get what you deserve. I know the value of everything I’ve achieved. My life has already changed a lot. I want to continue on that path and better my life.

- I’ve been for training about 3 months in Bahia. I’ve been counting on a big team including Big Nog and boxing coach Doria. It’s been a really great camp. I feel fantastic. I know Cain is a tough opponent, but I am confident in my abilities.

- I’ve been training a lot for 5 round fights. My S&C training has been very rigorous. I am ready for 5 rounds, but I don’t think it will go the distance. I know Cain’s been out of the Octagon, but he’s a phenomenal fighter.

When you are away from your job for an extended period of time, you are either not looking forward to going back or excited to go back. Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal fits the latter.

The former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion returns to the cage this coming Saturday night as faces Roger Gracie at Strikeforce: Barnett vs Kharitonov live on Showtime at 10:30ET.

We haven’t seen Lawal in almost 13 months as we last saw him when he lost his title to Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante last August in Houston. Lawal was injured with multiple knee injuries heading into the fight and got surgery following the fight. Now, he is anxious to get back into the cage.

“I am anxious for the weigh-ins, anxious to get to the press conference over with, go to the afterparty once I win and I am anxious for the whole thing”, said Lawal.

In the past Lawal would train at different gyms leading up to past fights, but he now decided to make one gym his home base for all of his fights. That gym? American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose,CA. What made him decide on AKA?

“Good team, good structure and I was cool with Daniel(Cormier), Luke(Rockhold), all the guys including Cain(Velasquez), Silverback and all these guys. They are just cool, its just a good fit”, he said

It is not too often that fighters at the same gym all are preparing for a fight and Lawal feels that benefits all of them.

“Brings more competition to the room because we all try to look good. Everybody is training at the same time, all the same schedules and I just think you see better results with everybody on the same schedule”, he said.

You can listen to the full interview at sportstownchicago.com.

For all updates on Strikeforce: Barnett vs Kharitonov, stay tuned to MMASucka.com

Dana White sounded just like a kid on Christmas morning as he announced the UFC’s debut fight on the Fox network. The one hour prime time special will feature just one fight, a heavyweight title match-up between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos. The fight itself is almost certain to be a barn-burner; and while that will certainly add to White’s happiness it’s clear the UFC President has his eyes on something bigger than just a heavyweight title fight: mainstream acceptance.

The main reason the Fox special will contain just one potentially twenty-five minute fight is that both White and the network are banking on playing host to many eyeballs who will be watching the sport for the first time. Fox has committed to promoting the fight heavily on it’s football and baseball telecasts, as well as promotion through ads on the Fox family of networks. If any Fox viewer misses the UFC’s debut on the network, it won’t be because they were not aware of it.

Among the plans for the debut are a “Super Bowl tailgate” event that is slated to feature celebrities and an introductory tutorial of sorts from the announce crew designed to familiarize new viewers with the sport, similar to how the promotion approached their first telecasts on the Spike network. White is even doing something he previously said he would never do, he will back away from his long-held point of view that Zuffa must control all aspects of the production of the event and will be taking production input from Fox.

Some nay-sayers are already questioning both the decision to put a heavyweight title fight on free TV and the lack of any other fights planned for the one hour showcase. But both are necessary to attract the amount of new viewers both the promotion and the network are banking on. Going to the “next level” are White likes to put it is not going to happen if all they’re enticing viewers with is a fight between Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin, one fight that was rumoured for the slot. Keeping the focus on just one fight, and having that fight being a heavyweight title fight also allows Fox to have it’s extra-curricular introductory activities they’re planning and also focus exclusively on the heavyweight title fight as destination programming. Fox’s David Hill was practically giddy at the thought, comparing the event to Ali-Foreman.

There is a legitimate concern that they are sacrificing pay-per-view revenue by allowing Cain-JDS to happen on free TV. But in the long run, it is a worthwhile investment. Much like casual boxing fans, nothing will lure the casual MMA fan like a heavyweight title fight. If White feels this is as crucial to UFC’s continued expansion as the original Ultimate Fighter was, there’s no reason not to “put your best foot forward” as the UFC boss said. The glass is half-empty view will maintain that it will knee-cap UFC 139, the pay-per-view which takes place the weekend after UFC’s Fox debut. But that ignores that a) the UFC will be able to shill the pay-per-view event relentlessly in front of a record number of viewers; and b) the fight rumoured to take the main event slot of UFC 139 is Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson 2, a fight that would make any revenue loss from having Cain-JDS on free TV negligible. One can also argue that if having Cain-JDS on Fox turns either one of them into a legitimate pay-per-view draw, future revenue will make giving this fight away now well worth it.

While White hasn’t mentioned a goal for the number of viewers he’s aiming for on the Fox debut, but he has specified one event he wants to “blow out of the water”, the current holder for the most watched MMA fight in North America, CBS’ showing of the Elite XC event that brought us Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson. With heavy support from Fox and a heavyweight title fight to promote, the question will not be “will it break the record?”, but how far in the dust it will leave Kimbo behind.

If this launches UFC as a bona fide mainstream sport, the only thing left for Dana White and Zuffa to accomplish will be total global domination. By the time the initial Fox deal ends, UFC could be talked about in the same breath as the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.

“We are going with the most prestigious championship in all of sports, the heavyweight title. So on November 12 at the Anaheim Honda Center, the UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will take on the No. 1 contender Junior Dos Santos on the number one network in America, Fox.”

Those were the words by UFC President Dana White during today’s conference call in announcing the main event for the first UFC on Fox show as UFC Heavyweight Chaampion will defend against Junior Dos Santos.

There were rumors flying all over the place as to what the main event was going to be. Rumors were circulating that UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva would face Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Dan Henderson, Brock Lesnar-Frank Mir III, Tito Ortiz-Rich Franklin and even Ortiz-Chuck Liddell III.

As like in the sport of boxing, the fans want to the heavyweights as they are biggest and the best men in all of the weight divisions. It isn’t any different with Velasquez and Dos Santos.

Velasquez (9-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) last fought last October at UFC 121 where he defeated Brock Lesnar to capture the title. Velasquez has only had one fight go to a decision and that was in a very exciting fight against Cheick Kongo at UFC 99.

Dos Santos (13-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) last fought in June at UFC 131 in defeating Shane Carwin by decision in a highly entertaining fight. He has only had two fights go to a decision and those were his last two with first one being a victory over Roy Nelson at UFC 117 last August. The question a lot of people are wondering is: Why these two guys?

You have a guy in Velasquez who is not only the UFC Heavyweight Champion, but has the best cardio in the division, great standup wth heavy hands and a former NCAA All-American Wrestler. In Dos Santos, you have a fighter who is regarded as the best striker in the heavyweight division, good Brazilian Ji-Jitsu that really hasn’t had to be used yet.

More importantly, you have two young hungry lions that a lot of pundits view as the two best heavyweights in the world today. They both put on great and exciting fights and who doesn’t like seeing the heavyweights battle it out for the biggest prize in the sport?

Can it live up to Ali-Foreman? We will find out November 12th.

In an impromptu media conference call on Friday, Dana White announced the main event of the first even UFC on Fox card. There were plenty of speculations as to who it could be, from Dan Henderson vs somebody to Alistair Overeem vs somebody.

The announcement came at approximately 10:05am/1:05pm and the main event is… Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos. This fight was originally supposed to go down the following week in San Jose.

Dana said that there were other options that went through his head, but this was the only option, The Heavyweight Championship. Both fighters were pumped and honored to take this fight on Fox.

In other news this fight will be the ONLY fight on the FOX card that night. It will be a 5 round title fight. Dana said one way or another the other fights on the card will be delivered to the fans. Tickets for the Fox card will go on sale next Friday September 16.

Dana says having a PPV following the Fox Card the next week doesn’t suck.