Plenty of security keeps Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva separated at Bellator NYC ceremonial weigh-ins

NEW YORK – Knowing what was likely to go down if the Bellator NYC headliners got too close to each other Friday night, security detail was on red alert for Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva.

The main event light heavyweights, who meet Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York at Bellator’s second pay-per-view event, got face to face Friday night at the ceremonial weigh-ins, which took place at The Theater at MSG.

After Sonnen stepped on the same scale used by Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali at “The Fight of the Century” in 1971 at The Garden, security personnel made sure things stayed on as much of an even keel as possible when Silva took the stage. Sonnen extended his arm to shake Silva’s hand, but the Brazilian wanted none of it and waved his finger at the American.

Also stepping onto the stage for the fans were co-main event heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione. Bellator NYC also features a trio of title fights. Michael Chandler defends his lightweight title against Brent Primus on the main card. Welterweight champ Douglas Lima meets Lorenz Larkin with his belt on the line. And to close out the Bellator 180 portion of the event on Spike, light heavyweight champ Phil Davis meets Ryan Bader in a rematch.

Check out the highlights from those face-offs, as well as the face-offs between Alice Yauger and Heather Hardy and Chinzo Machida and James Gallagher, in the video above.

And for more on Bellator NYC and Bellator 180, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.