Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

MINNEAPOLIS - Jon Fitch aims to make the Target Center a literal description.

With Georges St. Pierre and the UFC welterweight title in his crosshairs, Fitch took to the scale at the UFC 87 weigh-ins with a smile on his face and a look of confidence in his eyes, making weight along with the other 19 fighters on the card.

“I feel better than I’ve ever felt in my entire life,” Fitch said. “It was the best camp I’ve ever had. For the last six months I’ve been training for this fight, and now I’m ready to go.”

Fitch certainly appeared more relax and looser than St. Pierre, who wore a serious look on his face throughout the duration of his time on stage.

St. Pierre never cracked a smile during the proceedings despite proving to be the crowd favorite, even ahead of Minnesota residents Brock Lesnar and Roger Huerta. Like his opponent, the UFC welterweight champ checked in at a trim 170 pounds for his first title defense since defeating Matt Serra in April.

“I’m fighting the toughest guy I’ve ever fought,” he said shortly after stepping off the scale. “The people who know me know that I don’t fight for the fame or money. I fight for myself, because I love it, and for the fans. I fight to test myself and I’m ready to rock tomorrow.”

St. Pierre (16-2) is as much as a 3-1 favorite against Fitch, a former Purdue wrestler who has put together an impressive 15-match win streak, including eight in a row in the UFC octagon. The latter stretch ties him with Royce Gracie for the longest-ever unbeaten run in the UFC, so a win would put Fitch in the history books in two different categories, but of course, he’s only focusing on the man in front of him.

Fitch says that he's had the same game plan in place for St. Pierre since conceiving it months ago, and his demeanor certainly suggests confidence.

The other match that has seemed to capture the attention of many and created a buzz is the lightweight bout between Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian.

The two have spoken respectfully about each other in the leadup to the fight, but the intensity on Huerta’s face made it clear he’s already morphing into fight mode. The usually smiling 155-pounder was all business in his approach and briefly shook hands with Florian after their staredown.

He also shared a quick handshake with UFC President Dana White after a week in which Huerta’s recent comments to Fight! Magazine brought some heat from White in a rebuttal.

Huerta voiced a few problems with the UFC to the magazine, and White fired back in a radio interview, saying the popular Huerta “reads the headlines a little too much,” and referred to him as a “moron.”

Weigh-in day is generally the quietest day of a fight week, as the athletes retreat to saunas and workout rooms to take off the last pounds before they step on the scale, but Huerta will have a chance to make a statement back if he can beat Florian, who is 8-1 in his UFC career and was at one time the No. 1 lightweight contender when he lost a unanimous decision title match to Sean Sherk.

In one of the only colorful moments of the process, after Luke Cummo and Tamdan McCrory both weighed in wearing eyeglasses, event emcee Joe Rogan proclaimed their fight "Battle of the Nerds."

Full weigh-in results
Georges St. Pierre (170) vs. Jon Fitch (170)
Heath Herring (250) vs. Brock Lesnar (265)
Kenny Florian (155) vs. Roger Huerta (155)
Jason MacDonald (185) vs. Demian Maia (185)
Rob Emerson (155) vs. Manny Gamburyan (155)  
Luke Cummo (167) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170)
Dan Evensen (244) vs. Cheick Kongo (235)
Andre Gusmao (205) vs. Jon Jones (205)
Steve Bruno (170) vs. Chris Wilson (170)
Ben Saunders (170) vs. Ryan Thomas (170)

Video   Herring: 'Full guns a-blazing' Heath Herring talks about possibly stealing the spotlight at UFC 87. NBC Sports

White Q&A
The UFC’s secret weapon in its rise to sports power lies in its fan-friendly approach.

From autograph signings to a public press conference to the weigh-ins, the UFC makes sure its fans know their value to the organization. Prior to yesterday's weigh-ins, White held a question and answer session with members of UFC’s official fan club.

During the time, White told fans that the company is considering a possible matchup between Anderson Silva and Chuck Liddell at some point.

“I’d be lying to you if I said we haven’t talked about it,” he said.

He also told fans that the company is very likely going to consolidate the WEC’s middleweights and light-heavyweights into the UFC, and let the WEC focus on lighter weight fighters.

To that end, the WEC is interested in putting together a fight between featherweight champ Urijah Faber and vaunted Japanese star Kid Yamamoto.

“I’d love to see it,” White said. “We’re actually working on that. We’ll see.”

Sadollah’s future
NBCSports.com caught up with Ultimate Fighter winner Amir Sadollah, and he mentioned that he is still likely to have one more fight at middleweight but will most likely ultimately move down to welterweight at some point in the future.

“It’s like I’m waiting for someone to give me the magic answer,” Sadollah said when asked how he would make his decision. “It’s something I’m trying to figure out.”

Sadollah doesn’t have an opponent in place for his next fight, but said he hoped to fight again before the end of the year.

“This whole thing is crazy,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure out how I got here. I look over next to me, and I’m standing next to Dana White and Wanderlei Silva, and people know who am I. It’s wild.”