Bell Centre Atmosphere at UFC 83 Was Insane!!!

Saturday, April 19th was the first time I ever attended a UFC event live. It lived up to everything I thought it would be and much, much, much more!!! SO MUCH MORE!!! I'll run you through my entire weekend there and give my thoughts on all of the fights!

I got up early Friday morning with four other friends, two of whom are my brother in-laws, but best friends nonetheless. Equipped with digital cameras, high definition video cameras, a rented minivan, DVD player, and five Section 106, Row L seats at the Bell Centre, we finally left Sudbury around 10:00-10:30am. We arrived in Montreal around 6:30pm on Friday.

Driving in Montreal must be an art that comes with years of practice. It is no easy feat as Montreal is a city jammed with one way streets, very low traffic lights that stand on the side of the road and not above it, weird intersections, and a lot of 'scenery' to look at. Scenery that could get a man in big trouble if travelling with a wife or girlfriend.

After circling our hotel two times, we were finally able to get to the street that would get us to the front entrance. It was clear right away that we were staying at the right hotel this weekend. The entrance to the hotel was buzzing with fight fans. Team Serra were standing against the railing on the stairs to the lobby entrance. When checking in, Michael Bisping and his girlfriend were checking in right in front of us. Perfect picture opportunity. He looked very scrawny!! This was due to him cutting weight to make the 185 lbs middleweight limit. I knew immediately that this was going to be a weekend to remember! This was the hotel that all the UFC fighters were staying at!!

We got into our room and got settled. We decided to hit up a big fishing store in Montreal so we headed to the elevator. When the doors opened to the elevator, Jason MacDonald was standing there eating an energy bar. Another picture opportunity! The entire lobby was buzzing all weekend. Packed with fans and fighters taking pictures! The atmosphere in the hotel was awesome!! You couldn't walk down the streets of Montreal without hearing the "GSP!" chant a few times! One office building downtown Montreal had a huge GSP banner in it's windows many floors up.

When we got back to the hotel, I noticed Kenny Florian in the lobby. He had his back to us as we entered. Me and my buddies immediately got a picture with him and talked briefly. It's actually a very nice picture of the group of us, taken by Kenny's friend. A picture that I am sure to have framed. We headed up to our room to get ready for a night out in Montreal. We then noticed David 'The Crow' Loiseau sitting on a couch in the lobby. More pictures!! On our way back out of the hotel, Arianny Celeste, the UFC ring girl, was standing with a friend in this insanely sexy corset. I was the only one who noticed her as we exited the elevator. I immediately grabbed my brother in law so we could get a picture. This is probably my favorite picture from the weekend.

Walking down the street to the bars, we met Travis Lutter walking the streets. The rules are a little different in the bars of Montreal is all I'm gonna say! Kenny Florian and Mark DellaGrotte were in the same strip club we were at Friday night! They were there right until closing and stood outside with us after. Even at 4 am the hotel lobby was jumping with fans! Simply unbelievable!

Friday, the pictures with fighters didn't stop. Me and my buddies took a walk in the underground mall in Montreal. Walking around in a very quiet part of the mall, who do we see talking on his cell phone, but Forrest Griffin. Once again, I was the first one to notice the fighter. We immediately grabbed our cameras for pictures but then decided against bugging him for pictures since he was on his phone. We didn't want to bug the guy. Aside from us, he was the only other person in this quiet hallway in the mall. We walked past him and waved and nodded at him. We could tell right away that he appreciated not having us harass him for pictures while he was on his phone. He took the time to interrupt his phone conversation to say "Have a good one guys!" We got to the end of the hallway and realized that the doors at the end were locked. So we walked back. On our way back, we noticed Forrest standing outside a little coffee shop inside the mall. This time we bugged him for pictures. He told us that he really appreciated it when we didn't bug him for pictures while he was on the phone and seemed happy to take a few pictures with us. All of the fighters we met so far were alot smaller than I thought they'd be. Shorter and skinner than I am and I weight around 185 lbs. Forrest, however, looked massive! I was the second smallest guy in my group and he made everyone look small. Even my brother in law and friend who both weigh around 210 looked small and short compared to Forrest.

One our way back to the hotel we were walking on the bridge heading back, when once again I noticed another fighter. Dan Henderson was at the lobby entrance taking pictures with fans outside. So we took off across the bridge and down the stairs to the hotel entrance. When we got close, his manager (I think this was his manager) said "Yes, he'll take a picture with you". So we shook his hand talked and took pictures. He is actually alot smaller than I thought he'd be. Of all the fighters, I think Dan's size was the one that surprised me the most. Short with skinny legs. But the back muscles and strength of that guy were scary. When he gripped us when taking pictures, you could tell that this guy could crush you with his fist if he wanted to. Even after taking pictures outside, he was stuck in the lobby taking pictures long after we already made our way back to our room.

We went out to eat before the fights. After eating we headed over to the Bell Centre. On our way there, we ran into Heath Herring on the street. Tall man. He had a mohawk, black jeans, cowboy boots, and some type of biker t-shirt on. He was on his cell phone so we didn't bother him. We just waved and nodded as we walked by, the same with did with Forrest Griffin.

We stood in line to get into the Bell Centre. I could tell right away that this was going to be a crowd to remember. Chants of "GSP! GSP!" roared from the time we stepped in line till we entered the arena...well the chants never really stopped. Anywhere we went in the Bell Centre there were chears for GSP. There were fans running through traffic with a giant Quebec flag screaming GSP! GSP! This was going to be haywire!!! It was already mayhem outside the Bell Centre and the fights hadn't even started yet!

When we got into the bell centre, Jonathan Goulet's entrance music was blaring out of the arena's sound system. I could see the octagon each time I walked past a section entrance. It looked AWESOME!!!! Everytime I walked past an entrance and looked in, I got more and more excited! The Goulet-Hironaka fight had just started when we sat down in our seats. This was the first fight of the pre-lims and already the arena was nearing capacity!!! INSANE!!! The roar of the crowd was already deafening and this was only the very first fight of the night!!! 11 fights in total on this card!! With each fight, the crowd got louder and louder. You would think that people would get tired of yelling, but that wasn't the case. My voice was practically gone well before they went live on Pay-Per-View!!!

I haven't seen the pay-per-view yet, but I could just imagine what Mike Goldberg was sayin to the camera and to Kenny Florian when the live portion of the event started. It was probably something like "This crowd is ELECTRIC!!" Or something like "The fans are bringing this arena down tonight!!!" I can't wait to see it on TV. Before they went live, Mike Goldberg and Kenny Florian were standing in front of the TV camera waiting to go live for the start of the pay-per-view, and Goldberg was dancing to the music playing in the arena. Pretty funny stuff...stuff you don't see on TV. Oh yeah, Bruce Buffer was doing that between the Franklin/Lutter fight and the St. Pierre/Serra fight. He was standing outside of the Octagon, but still on the platform, facing the crowd, dancing to the music. I wish I got it on tape...You don't get to see this stuff on TV.

There was about a half hour wait between the last pre-lim fight (Jason Day/Alan Belcher) and the live pay-per-view portion. The arena announcer came over the sound system and said "The main card will begin shortly, so do what you gotta do, but come back because we go live on pay-per-view at 10 o'clock!" That was also what was shown on the screens that surround the arena bowl "We go live on Pay-Per-View at 10PM" Again, just stuff you don't get to see on TV. Other things you don't get to see on TV are the stupid camera booms that are used to film the crowd and the fighters' entrances from above.

After the prelims, I could see Sam stout at the back of the floor seats near the rink boards. He just bought a round of beers for the guys in Rich Clementi's corner. They were all standing together talking and laughing. Gray Maynard (from Clementi's camp) was talking with Stout and they looked like best buds. All a show of respect between fighters and their camps.

When the live portion started, the crowd went bananas!!!! The roar was deafening...I know you hear that alot, but I mean it. It was borderline insanity!! The seats were shaking! We were in the lower bowl of the arena. We looked up at the people in the bowls above us and it was just pandemonium!!!!

The crowd never let up. Fight after fight after fight!! The noise level just got increasingly louder!!!

The Nate Quarry/Kalib Starnes fight provided a very interesting switch in crowd reaction and cheering. And rightfully so. Kalib Starnes didn't show up to fight. Quarry did. Starnes backpedalled the entire fight. Barely threw a punch or kick. He pretty much ran from Quarry the entire fight. At first I thought he was just feeling him out, trying to set his distance. But the longer it continued I realized that wasn't the case.

The crowd booed Quarry as they did any opponent to a Canadian. This was natural. We're in Canada so we all cheered for our Canadian fighters. Starnes was no different. We cheered him on during his entrance. Cheered like crazy to support our fellow Canadian. But those cheers immediately turned to boos...both for Starnes and Quarry, as it wasn't immediately clear who was causing these stalemates. But once the crowd realized that Quarry was indead trying to push the action and Starnes was running away, the crowd shifted in favour of Quarry. The boos began for Starnes. Quarry gained even more appreciation when he began mocking Starnes. The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers. Starnes was now hated and Quarry was our hero!!! By the end of the fight, there wasn't a single Starnes fan in the arena. You could have sworn that Quarry was from Canada by the way we cheered for him after the fight. He won us over that night! Starnes was booed out of the arena.

The crowd erupted again when Georges St. Pierre was shown on screen coming out to the arena. The cheers were deafening. But just when you thought this crowd couldn't possibly be any louder, there was an explosion of cheers and screams as GSP entered the arena!!! WOW!!! That crackling sound you hear in your ear when something is way too loud...yeah that happened to me long ago!! This noise level was damn near fatal!!! The cheers got louder yet when he stepped into the cage! Then Matt Serra came out. He was booed with a ferocity that I have never seen before. Unrelenting were us fans. We booed him with everything we had. And then the fight started.

The chanting never stopped!!! From the opening bell, relentless chants of "GSP!GSP!" and "OLE! OLE,OLE,OLE!!!" filled the arena. It was non-stop!! LOUD! Man, was it loud!!! My head was throbbing from the noise level. My voice was gone! I couldn't hear myself think! Everytime Georges took Serra down, passed his guard, threw a punch or a knee, the crowd erupted!!! Near the end of the fight, the crowd began chanting "F*** YOU, SERRA!!" 21,000 fans screaming in unison "F*** YOU, SERRA!!" This is when Georges began unleashing those knees to the body. I began screaming at the top of my lungs because I knew the fight was nearing it's end. I was screaming so loud that I was getting dizzy!!! As was the rest of the crowd!!! And when the ref called a stop to the fight, the thunder came!!!! The loudest outburst of cheers I have ever witnessed and ever been a part of erupted inside the Bell Centre!!!! The floor was shaking!!! The sound waves were enough to knock you on your ass!!! 21,390 fans erupted into a deafening roar the likes of which the UFC has never seen before!!! I thought the building was coming down!! I immediately had goosebumps and chills up the back of my neck!!! The atmosphere and the feeling of being a part of something so memorable is something I simply cannot describe in words. It was something that had to be experienced to be appreciated and understood. It was absolutely unbelievable!!! That was something that I doubt that I'll ever experience ever again and I'm just glad I was fortunate enough to be a part of it.

Best weekend of my life.