Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

LAS VEGAS - On Thursday afternoon, I asked Forrest Griffin what he would do for the 48 hours between the moment we talked and his UFC light-heavyweight championship fight with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on Saturday night.

“Dieting and eating,” he said with a shrug.

Well, the first part of the equation is out of the way. Griffin and the other 17 fighters on the UFC 86 card weighed in at the Mandalay Bay Events Center with no problems, as the last hurdle and formality prior to the event was cleared.

The weigh-ins have become an event in their own right, and though it's a chance for the fans to get close to the fighters and possibly score an autograph, you still sometimes leave with a feeling of letdown, because you rarely see anything that can tell you what to expect the next night or glean any insight from.

At best, you might hope for some sort of confrontation which will also likely not go very far. But at the end of the day, it’s basically just a bunch of guys stripping down to their underwear and stepping on a scale. For the fighters, though, it represents the final sacrifice before stepping into the cage and putting all their hard work to use.

Griffin and Jackson predictably received the biggest ovations of their night when they separately entered the arena, but it was Griffin who seemed the fan favorite, basking in cheers while Jackson received a loud, but mixed, reaction.

Both men weighed in at the light-heavyweight title limit of 205 pounds [non-title fights have a one-pound allowance], with Griffin flexing and letting out a scream while Rampage unleashed his signature howl. After the champ stepped off the scale (and just after telling Joe Rogan his underwear was "scratch and sniff"), the two squared off for photographers, with Jackson glaring at Griffin with his trademark sneer while Griffin stared back with a slightly upturned smile in one corner of his mouth.

The only way in which Jackson and Griffin differed from the other fighters was that quite noticeably, they were the only pairing of the day that did not shake hands afterward. But that slight hardly qualifies as animosity.

“There’s nothing more to say,” Griffin said. “The time for talking is done. I think we’re ready to get in there and put on a show.”

“To all you Rampage-haters, you better get used to it, because I’m going to be here for a while,” Jackson told the crowd.

The rest of the weigh-ins were remarkably routine, with the crowd politely cheering most fighters (with the exception of Josh Koscheck, who for some reason seems to get booed no matter what).

Attendance at the weigh-ins appeared slightly less than average, but that can likely be attributed to the fact that it is the Fourth of July, and there are all kinds of parties going on around the city. But UFC 86 will be a sellout, with the Mandalay Bay also hosting a closed-circuit viewing to accommodate more fans.

Complete weigh-in results
Corey Hill (155) vs. Justin Buchholz (155)
Dennis Siver (155) vs. Melvin Guillard (155)
Cole Miller (155) vs. Jorge Gurgel (155)
Justin McCully (236) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (249)
Gleison Tibau (156) VS. Joe Stevenson (155)
Marcus Aurelio (155) vs. Tyson Griffin (155)
Chris Lytle (170) vs. Josh Koscheck (170)
Patrick Cote (185) vs. Ricardo Almeida (185)
UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship Match:
Forrest Griffin (205) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (205)

James Irvin discusses upcoming Silva fight
NBCSports.com caught up with light-heavyweight James "the Sandman" Irvin, who will square off with UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva in a non-title match on July 19.

Silva is moving up to 205 for the hastily arranged show, and Irvin gets the golden opportunity of tangling with one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters in his weight class.

Irvin spoke candidly regarding the opportunity, saying, “I don’t do anything better than him, but I’m going to have a size and power advantage. I’m expecting to take a lot of damage, but I don’t see myself losing.”

Irvin revealed that he had tickets to the competing Affliction show on the same night, but jumped at the opportunity to fight Silva. He added that when he got the offer to fight “Silva,” he thought he was being given a chance to fight Wanderlei. When it was clarified that the middleweight champ was moving up a weight-class, he jumped at the opportunity. According to Irvin, at least four other fighters declined to fight Silva before he was contacted.

“I’m kind of surprised. I thought there’d be more guys banging down the door to get to him,” he said.

NBCSports.com scored an exclusive video interview with Irvin in which he said he believes he will outwork Silva in the clinch, and “own” the position. The clinch has been the beginning of the end for several of Silva’s opponents, but Irvin has had extensive Muay Thai training and traveled to Thailand many times to work with the sport’s masters.

Expect an in-depth interview with Irvin on NBCSports.com later next week.

Vegas news and notes
They say you can bet on anything in Las Vegas. Hah! I spent all morning looking for a place to lay some scratch on the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. I knew Joey Chestnut had Kobayashi's number. But none of these world-class sports books had the contest on the board.

Everyone knows it's hot in Las Vegas in the summer. Today got to triple digits by 10 am and hit its peak at 113, making it feel like you were walking into a car exhaust. They say it's a dry heat, as if that's supposed to make it feel more comfortable. You know what else is a dry heat? Fire!

MORE FROM MMA

MMA Section Front

UFC 88: Breakthrough fight photos Evans scores spectacular KO win over Liddell WEC event rescheduled due to Hurricane threat   Franklin, Hamill shelve friendship for fight Liddell's shadow looms large for Evans Lesnar-Couture the right call for UFC Couture and UFC bury hatchet, sign new deal Photos from the career of Randy Couture   Wanderlei Silva awaits next battle 'Hitman' sets his target on Marquardt MMA Section Front   Add MMA headlines to your news reader: