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Whether real, or just familiar promotional tub-thumping, the "animosity" between Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra appears to have done the trick.

There will definitely be a good guy and a bad guy when the two enter the octagon Saturday night.

The main event combatants in UFC 83 at the Bell Centre, the first appearance of the mixed martial arts major leagues in Canada, weighed in this afternoon in front of an estimated 4500 fans, who began lining up hours before the arena doors were opened.

Saturday, more than 21,000 will fill the building, to cheer on local hero St.-Pierre, and to do their best to make Serra, from Long Island, New York, feel extremely unwelcome.

Some rather mild anti-French comments attributed to Serra, perhaps uttered entirely in jest, have him wearing the black hat. He seemed to relish the villain's role, strutting confidently to the stage to a chorus of boos, stripping down to his underwear, and weighing in under the organization's welterweight limit at 169.5-pounds — the same as St.-Pierre.

Serra holds the welterweight title, while St.-Pierre claims the "interim" championship won while Serra was inactive because of injury.

St-Pierre described the chance to finally fight on the big stage in his hometown as "a dream come true."

"I have wanted this for a long time," he said.

When asked about his alleged antipathy towards Serra, he said: "People who know me know that I don't fight with anger — I fight with my heart."

Serra was also interviewed, but his answers were rendered inaudible by the crowd's heckling.

Saturday's live show starts at 8:00 pm eastern time, with the pay per view broadcast beginning at 10:00 and the main event expected to start after midnight.

Already, the number of licensed outlets showing the fight across the country has set a Canadian record. There are over a thousand and counting, breaking the previous mark of 937 for the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight championship fight in 2002.