ST. LOUIS, MO (August 13, 2010) - A heated staredown between main event fighters Jesse Finney and Josh Neer highlighted the weigh-ins on Friday in preparation for "Fight Me 1: The Battle Begins! Finney vs. Neer."

Before a raucous crowd at the Sheraton Westport hotel in St. Louis, Neer and Finney traded barbs after both made weight for the 175-pound catchweight fight.

That main event highlights the debut for Fight Me, which is expected to draw a standing-room only crowd of more than 11,000 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO on Saturday.

The verbal exchange started immediately after Neer gave his prediction for the fight. "My prediction is first-round knockout. That's it," Neer bluntly said.

The duo went back and forth after that, but will wait to settle their differences on Saturday.

After a busy promotional week, the hometown Finney is ready to step into the cage with the UFC veteran. "I'm just excited now," said Finney, who weighed in at 174 pounds. "At this point, I'm ready to fight. I've worked my whole game. I'll probably be close to 200 pounds when I get in there and I'm going to use that to my advantage."

Finney also expects to feel a surge from a crowd that will fill Family Arena to capacity.

"It's going to be a huge adrenaline rush," Finney said. "My adrenaline's going to go through the roof."
Neer weighed in at 174 pounds as well and appeared calm throughout the weigh-in festivities.

All 20 fighters made weight for the 10-bout Fight Me debut, including co-main event fighters Lucas Lopes and Brendan Seguin.

For the middleweight fight, Seguin weighed in at exactly 185 pounds, while Lopes checked in at 183.

Another fight of interest is a bout between former "Ultimate Fighter" contestant Cale Yarbrough (7-1) and Strikeforce veteran Kiko France (5-1).

Despite taking the fight with less than a week's notice, Yarbrough checked in at 202 pounds and appeared to be in good shape.

"I'm confident what I can do on short notice," Yarbrough said. "I'm in shape and I feel fine. When I'm always training like this, I can take a fight at any time."
France hoped to utilize his jiu-jitsu skills to get his sixth submission victory.

"I want a first-round submission and to show him how we do it in Brazil," France said.

Fight Me President and CEO Kenny Nowling also laid out a set of enticing bonuses for each fighter:
• $5,000 for a head-kick knockout
• $500 for a knockout victory
• $500 for a submission victory
• $5,000 for knockout of the night

The first fight is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

FIGHT ME 1: THE BATTLE BEGINS! FINNEY VS. NEER WEIGH-IN RESULTS

Main Event
175-pound catchweight fight: Jesse Finney (173) vs. Josh Neer (174)

Co-Main Event
Lucas Lopes (183) vs. Brendan Seguin (185)

Main Card
Cale Yarbrough (202) vs. Kiko France (204)
Rocky Vercher (160) vs. Chuck Parmelee (160)
Darryl Cobb (181) vs. Sean Huffman (186)
Booker DeRousse (192) vs. Brian Green (189)
Jimmy Donahue (153) vs. Luke Gwaltney (154)
Lance Benoist (167) vs. Cleburn Walker (168)
Abel Trujillo (153) vs. Dave Cochran (153)
Josh Sampo (123) vs. Eric Acuna (122)