UFC 127: Pre-Fight Press Conference Highlights

UFC UK President and Managing Director of International Development Marshall Zelaznik, as well as Saturday's main-card competitors, were in attendance today for the UFC 127 pre-fight press conference held in Sydney, Australia.  The stacked card will be headlined by a Welterweight showdown between top contenders B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch, while the co-main event will feature a Middleweight clash between Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera.  Aussie native George Sotiropoulos will look to continue building his case for a Lightweight title shot as he takes on Dennis Siver and former TUF alum Kyle Noke goes head to head with Chris Camozzi.

Zelaznik took the stage first, announcing that the 18,000 seat sell-out not only set a new record for the UFC in Australia, but for the Acer Arena as well.  The UK President also reminded everyone that in addition to the two free fights available for free viewing on the UFC Official Facebook Page, there will be three preliminary bouts aired on the Ion television network.

Below are highlights from today's Press Conference:

BJ Penn

• Penn plans to donate part of his purse to the Aussie relief fund.

• Right now I'm around 165. I'll probably drink 4 pounds of water to make Fitch think I'm bigger than I am.

• I could see myself fighting at lightweight again. I walk around at 165; it's not a big cut.

Jon Fitch

• Regardless of having people around (AKA) who have intimate knowledge of BJ's earliest days, BJ is BJ, he is great at what he does and he gets things done.  I'm going to have to prevent him from doing those things.

• Now that I've built up my skill set, I feel more comfortable opening up as a person. A lot of guys rushed to opening themselves up and they suck.  People love you, but your skill set is not where it needs to be.

• Not really any pressure to be exciting. The number one rule everyone needs to remember is that everyone loves a winner. Nobody is going to know who you are when you lose.

• I really haven't put any thought into anything other than fighting BJ.  It would be disrespectful and foolish to think of anything else. I've been avoiding the internet and magazines.  Just focusing on this fight.

• It's kind of like if I kill (Penn) I get his power.  I play a lot of video games that relate to that.  If I can destroy him, I can take all those wins and put them in my back pocket. (Penn cuts in to say "That won't happen")

Michael Bisping

• I've got a big fight to prepare for.  I'm not an idiot in the school yard making up rhymes and jokes.

• This is a press conference Jorge, by the way.  I know this is your first time on the big show.  After this you'll be back to the undercard.

• I'm going to do most of my talking with my fists, kicks, elbows, jiu-jitsu - Jorge is a throwback to the beginning of  MMA, I'm a complete Mixed Martial Artist. (Rivera says "I look forward to it," Bisping replies "Me too.")

• (Bisping asks if Rivera has a script in front of him) Look at the last video, I can't imagine it was scripted. That's something my nine year-old son would come up with, so if it was scripted I feel sorry for them.

Jorge Rivera

• Some of it was fun (online videos), some of it was to get in his head. You see how he reacts.  I'm cool with it.

For complete UFC 127 Pre-Fight Press Conference image gallery, visit Heavy.com