Among the usual press figures here to cover the event, there are some welcome new faces. The ESPN Channel is here to document Randy Couture and Josh Barnett for an upcoming hour installment of its popular show "Outside The Lines" that they hope to air in June. On the heels of its broadcast deal with Zuffa, WOWWOW, the Japanese subscriber-based cable station (similar to HBO), has also made the trip over and a pack of journalists follow Hayato Sakurai’s move from room to room. At one point, Couture and Barnett are whisked off for a radio appearance at local sports talk radio station KBAD. Back at Ricardo Pire’s gym, local boy Frank Mir [pictured] is interviewed for a segment on News 13- Inside Las Vegas, an ABC affiliate.

In the arena itself, the Octagon has not been erected yet, but a group of workers furiously work away on light grids and platforms. Across the hallway, Zuffa’s headquarters is a buzz of phones and faxes. Dana White stands in the corner, telephone to one ear, his right arm raised to direct a worker to a floor plan hanging on the wall. With an entirely new production team in place, the anticipation reads plainly on his face. The broadcast will have a different look on Friday and he wonders how it will fair with the public.

As the sun sets on the Las Vegas strip and the infamous casino lights start to appear, the fighters go off to get in their evening training sessions. Besides the equipped training rooms provided, many fighters make their way to UFC veteran John Lewis’s facility, minutes away from the hotel. An impressive two-floor training complex complete with mats, a sparring area, and even a cage — its too good an opportunity for these fighters to pass up. Matt Lindland and Pete Williams practice their clinch work in the cage while just feet away on the ground, Matt Hume rolls with Pride veteran Dan Henderson. In the cleared area used for sparring, various couples box and kick. Ricco Rodriguez, Marvin Eastman, Quentin Jackson, and Phil Baroni all take their turns with Maurice Smith, who stops them occasionally to give pointers and guidance. Randy Couture seems to be everywhere at once — sparring in the cage and then outside of it with various opponents or even just hitting the punching bag off on his own. And in the corner, watching Randy’s every move, is Josh Barnett! Josh yells across the space for Randy to try this move or that move, and one almost forgets that these two will be battling their hearts out against one another in two short days. Animosity does not exist here — just a group of fighters willing to share and learn with little cares for who is fighting who or what camp so and so comes from.