From the moment you sign the contract you begin a physical and mental process.
Mental you're studying tape of your opponent formulating a game plan, thinking about your opponent constantly, doing interviews about them, hearing interviews they have done about you, sometimes getting into it over social media.
Physically youre training hard, dieting, getting your weight on point, drilling certain things for your gameplan.
Making weight is like the final exam of the physical side, it is the accumulation of all the work youve put in to get ready for this fight
The staredown is the mental side, coming face to face with your adversary and looking them in the eye. It can be 2 confident respectful guys ready to take care of business or it can be one fighter maybe not being ready mentally and trying to compensate ie: Rousey Holm.