There was one last promotional stop prior to UFC 263 on Saturday, and that was Friday’s ceremonial weigh-in.
The PPV card, topped by a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori, meeting for the second time, was the third to feature fans back in the building. Taking place in Glendale, AZ, it was a double-feature of title fights in the main and co-main event, as Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno were also meeting for the second time, with flyweight gold on the line.
Plenty of bad blood existed between Adesanya and old rival Vettori. Surprisingly, that also appeared to be the case between Figueiredo and Moreno, leaving the third five-round fight of the event as, surprisingly, the most cordial affair. Surprising given it featured the return of Nate Diaz, set to take on Leon Edwards. Though of course, Diaz did a little mean-mugging at Friday’s ceremonial face-offs.
Still, while talk of who was whose daddy and sweaty butt cracks might have been the lowlight of Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, but by Friday night, the talk, the build-up to the fight, the promotional push was essentially done. All that remained was to see which man, Adesanya or Vettori (not to mention Figueiredo or Moreno) had evolved more since their first meeting.
Check below for a gallery of highlights from the UFC 263 Ceremonial Weigh-In and Face-Off
