UFC on FUEL TV 8 Last Words: Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann

Before former Pride middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva and former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) light heavyweight champion Brian Stann step in to the Octagon just a few short hours from now at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, the two 205-pound competitors were forced to endure one final formality:

The weigh ins.

For mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, the weigh-ins are the last time they will see stand face-to-face (see the staredown pic here) with their opponent before sharing the Octagon. Some fighters are casual when stepping on the scale, others use the moment as one final opportunity to try and intimidate their opponent.

Just moments after successfully making weight for their Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight bout, Silva and Stann appeared on the FUEL TV weigh-in show to share some finals thoughts on their five-round main event contest with correspondent Gareth A. Davies less than 24-hours away from UFC on FUEL TV 8.

First, "The Axe Murderer" talked about his return to Japan after nearly seven years away, fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since 2006, if he cares more about putting on a show versus winning and how he plans to finish Stann.

On his return to Japan:
"I enjoy a lot, it's a great opportunity for me to fight in Japan and I hope I make all my fans around the world happy in Japan, Brazil, United States, Australia - around the world. I fight for you guys and I'm going to make a good fight for you."

On fighting at light heavyweight:
"Yeah, I don't have to lost so much weight, I feel happy and I feel good."

On winning vs. putting on a show:
"Man, I love to fight man, and I'm happy to get back here to Japan and I'm going to do my best and I'm happy to be in the UFC, the best event in the world and I'm going to do my best."

On how he is going to finish Stann:
"Man, I'm going to take him down and to knock him out and make a show for my fans. I fight for my fans and this is what I love to do and what I'm going to do."

"All-American" also spoke on the FUEL TV weigh-in broadcast, telling Davies about fighting in his birthplace of Japan, what he took away from his intense stare down with Silva and how he plans to counter the Brazilian's trademark aggression.

On how big fighting in Japan is:
"Without a doubt, you know, being born at Yokota Air Base only an hour from here, I always wanted to fight here, it was a big goal of mine in my career and to get that opportunity and fight a guy like Wanderlei Silva and be in the main event, you know, it's very important to me to make sure I have my mind right. I'm not here to sign autographs, I'm here to fight and I'm here to win. Everything else and the nostalgic moments are for after the fight."

On what he saw in Silva during the stare down:
"I see what I've seen out of him every fight of his career that I've watched since I started watching MMA, I was watching Wanderlei Silva. He's an extremely intense human being, he's a fierce competitor, he's probably one of the most tenacious fighters to ever grace the Octagon and that's right up my alley, and that's what I hope for. I hope for a very aggressive fight, that's my style. I would rather lose a fight by being knocked out than lose a decision where a guy just controlled me. I like to go for it and I do this for fun. There's other things I could do and I do this because I love it, I love the training and if Wanderlei Silva wants to come out and be real aggressive, I will happily oblige him and we can go for as long as out bodies will hold up."

On how he will nullify Silva's aggression:
"I'm going to be consistent. And if he wants to burst I'm not going to retreat. I have no issue staying right there. So when he bursts I'll go right into the hornet's nest - I have no issue with that."

Only a few more hours until showtime, Maniacs!

MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire card on fight night (Sat., March 2, 2013), starting with the Facebook "Prelims," which are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, as well as the main card, which is slated to air at 10 p.m. ET on FUEL TV.

For more on the upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 8 event click here.