LAS VEGAS — Images of Hilo's BJ Penn and Canada's Georges St-Pierre are everywhere in and around the MGM Grand Resort and Casino.

On the jumbotron outside the resort. On oversized posters all over the casino. On the T-shirts of fans.

It's all part of the hype for tomorrow's UFC 94 mixed martial arts event here. Penn and St-Pierre will meet in the main event for the UFC welterweight world championship.

"It does get a little crazy, to be honest," Penn said. "I understand they have to promote this, but man, I had cameras following me everywhere. Enough already. I did what I had to do. Let's just fight already."

It has evolved into one of the most hyped bouts in UFC history, capped by the UFC Primetime preview show — a three-part series that reportedly cost nearly $2 million to produce.

Yesterday — 48 hours before the bout — there were even more media obligations.

Penn and St-Pierre went through "open workouts" for the media at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Truth be told, it wasn't much of a workout — just another photo opportunity for the media.

Penn, who started fighting in the UFC organization in 2001, said he realized how significant the sport — not to mention himself — has become just by looking at the 20 or so media members who attended the workouts yesterday.

"I can't believe I'm standing here, a kid from Hilo, and all these reporters standing around me, holding microphones in a sport like this," said Penn, 30. "When we were fighting our first fights, there were probably 2,000 people at the arena, and those were probably the only 2,000 people who cared."

Tomorrow, the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be sold out. All 17,157 tickets were accounted for several weeks ago. UFC officials are also expecting more than 1 million buys of the international pay-per-view broadcast.

After participating in the hype for more than a month, Penn went into seclusion after yesterday's open workout. He and his training team are staying at a house off the Strip.

"I'm not a big party guy the week of the fight anyway," Penn said.

Rudy Valentino, Penn's head trainer, said staying away from the casinos is key to the mental preparation.

"We don't want people drawing energy away from him," Valentino said. "You stay in a hotel, you have all kinds of people coming up to you wanting to talk, autographs, all that. What we want to do now is just isolate."

Valentino said they probably won't even talk much about the bout for the next two days.

"The next 48 hours is staying focused and not letting the hype take over your mind," he said. "We're not going to watch any UFC shows, any UFC fights. We'll just sit and talk about other stuff, joke around. Then on the day of the fight we'll get more into it."

Penn also wanted to stay in a separate house so his personal cook could have a kitchen to prepare meals.

"We watch the sodium count, carbohydrates, all that," Valentino said. "BJ is at a good weight right now."

Penn is actually the UFC lightweight (155 pounds) world champion, but is moving up to the 170-pound class to fight for St-Pierre's belt. Penn is seeking to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two world titles at the same time.

"I feel very comfortable," Penn said. "I feel very good at this weight. I'm eating a lot of food ... I feel stronger. I feel like I can take a better punch."

Much has been made about the actual weight difference between the fighters.

The official weigh-in is today, and St-Pierre said he will have to cut weight to make the 170-pound limit. By fight time tomorrow night, St-Pierre said he will probably be "between 185 and 187" pounds.

Penn said he will stay around 170 when the bell rings.

"I really think that's going to be to my advantage," Penn said. "I'm going to be strong, I'm going to be healthy. I'm going to be carbo-loaded with plenty of food, plenty of water."

In contrast, St-Pierre may have to go through the stress of making the weight limit — which sometimes requires hours of fasting.

"When you try to lose that much weight and then gain it all back in one day, that's not healthy for your body," Valentino said. "So people talk about Georges being bigger and all that, but we're fine with it."