IFL fighters make weight for Saturday's event
Posted by Caleb Newby on 05.19.2007
Maurice Smith and Marco Ruas headline the show...
Chicago, Ill. – All fighters successfully made weight for Saturday's "Throwdown in the Windy City", and the weigh-in saw a slimmed down Maurice Smith lighten the mood with his trademark antics on the scales here Friday afternoon.
The superfight rematch between Tiger Sharks coach Smith and Condors coach Marco Ruas generated a good deal of buzz in the room as both men weighed in with just three pounds separating them, though a vast difference in their pre-fight demeanors.
Smith was all smiles as he joked with the crowd, pausing to remove the gum from his mouth before stepping on the scales as a self-effacing jibe at his own weight.
Ruas, on the other hand, was all business as usual. The Brazilian fighter had MMA great Pedro Rizzo in his corner, and looked to be in excellent shape for the bout.
Condors fighter Justin Levens remarked that the superfight was the bout he was most looking forward to on the evening, giving him the opportunity to watch his coach in action on the same night that the team took to the ring.
When asked if he thought Smith was taking the fight seriously enough, the laconic Levens responded simply, "We'll find out tomorrow night."
In the team match-ups, the Quad Cities Silverbacks enjoyed generous fan support from their traveling constituency, despite the fact that they were facing off against the hometown Chicago Red Bears. The Red Bears bring their most experienced squad yet into this bout, including lightweight John Strawn and middleweight Tim Kennedy.
Silverbacks heavyweight Ben Rothwell remarked that he was anxious to see how Kennedy, who will take on the Silverbacks' Ryan McGivern, will fare in the match-up of two superb athletes.
"We're going to find out what Tim Kennedy's made of tomorrow night," Rothwell said. "He better hope he's fireproof because otherwise he's going to get flamed."
The action gets underway at Chicago's Sears Centre at 7:30 pm local time on Saturday night, with a live web play-by-play running all night from ringside. Keep checking back for results and photos direct from ringside, and tune in to a pre-fight radio show on "The Ron Show" (www.joeted.com) beginning at 5 pm central.
Full weigh-in results, in the order the bouts will take place, appears below:
Razorclaws vs. Condors
Donnie Liles (170) vs. Rodrigo Ruas (169)
Dan Christison (262) vs. Antoine Jaoude (238)
Jeff Quinlan (197) vs. Emmanuel Newton (204)
Josh Odom (154) vs. Adam Lynn (152)
Brian Foster (184) vs. Justin Levens (183)
Silverbacks vs. Red Bears
Bart Palaszewski (154.5) vs. John Strawn (153)
Mike Ciesnolevicz (204.5) vs. Adam Maciejewski (206)
Ryan McGivern (184) vs. Tim Kennedy (184.5)
Ben Rothwell (264) vs. Travis Fulton (250)
Josh Neer (169.5) vs. Mark Miller (170)
