UFC and WEC Merging!!!

[aholbert32]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Just seen this on TSN.ca and holy ****! Awesome! As if the UFC already didn't have the best fighters in the world, they just added a handful more.

Love the addition of a featherweight division now too. I'm guessing the next TUF could be a featherweight one.

Dana hinted at adding a 125 division too.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

This is awesome since WEC cards have been way more entertaining than UFC ones recently. No doubt.

Ummmmmmm.........well that kind of sucks for Ben Henderson.......wasn't he their ww Champ ? Which means now he will have to fight GSP for a unification fight sometime down the road ?

He's their lightweight champ. And no this is awesome, new blood in that division is a welcomed thing. I f'n hate where the division is heading right now. We need more guys like Henderson and Cerrone.

I think it's awesome personally, I would love to see Henderson or Cerrone against some other lightweights...

No doubt in my mind Aldo won't stay in featherweight for long, it's only a natural evolution to move up to lightweight.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Another thing you got to look at, I bet half of those WEC fighters get let go too. Dana don't want everybody in WEC because not all of them are UFC worthy. The ones he really wanted was Faber, Ben Henderson, Aldo, Cowboy Cieronne, and maybe 6 others, but that is about it.

The rest of the WEC fighters aren't UFC worthy.

[Lakers 24 7]

Re: Dana White has a major announcement to make

I meant "less free fights". I even refrenced there would be more fights in the first paragraph.

I just dont see the negative either way. If what you predict is correct this equals better UFC PPVs. For example say Aldo fights Jan 1, that makes a card I wasnt planning to buy a must buy. Or if he fights Super Bowl Wknd, that makes a packed card even better.

Aldo and Faber are both stars but they arent headlining PPV stars yet. The one WEC PPV card with them in the main event did well for WEC standards but would have been a flop if it was a UFC card.

Also, the UFC makes money on the "free" shows. They get a ton of ad revenue from Spike and Versus. They need fighters to push those cards so I dont forsee Dominick Cruz, Torres or Faber always being regulated to PPV cards.

Definitely, but they always stand to make more money on PPVs. There will be a lot of free cards on the way, but it'll no longer be the likes of Aldo vs Gamb.
These guys won't be headlining anytime soon, but there's no doubt they'll want to build them into PPV stars. We'll see what happens, hopefully it's a nice tradeoff. We'll definitely be getting better PPV cards from top to bottom, but again no more stacked WEC cards on versus for free is the other side to that.

[aholbert32]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Another thing you got to look at, I bet half of those WEC fighters get let go too. Dana don't want everybody in WEC because not all of them are UFC worthy. The ones he really wanted was Faber, Ben Henderson, Aldo, Cowboy Cieronne, and maybe 6 others, but that is about it.

The rest of the WEC fighters aren't UFC worthy.

Nah. You have to keep those fighters if you want to keep the bantamweight and featherweight divisions full. Also in those divisions, the WEC was the UFC. the WEC was the biggest promotion in the US for those weight classes.

Now they may cut some of the lightweight guys just because there already is a lightweight division.

[aholbert32]

Re: Dana White has a major announcement to make

Definitely, but they always stand to make more money on PPVs. There will be a lot of free cards on the way, but it'll no longer be the likes of Aldo vs Gamb.
These guys won't be headlining anytime soon, but there's no doubt they'll want to build them into PPV stars. We'll see what happens, hopefully it's a nice tradeoff. We'll definitely be getting better PPV cards from top to bottom, but again no more stacked WEC cards on versus for free is the other side to that.

I see your point. I think it will be a decent mix.

[bkfount]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Ummmmmmm.........well that kind of sucks for Ben Henderson.......wasn't he their ww Champ ? Which means now he will have to fight GSP for a unification fight sometime down the road ?

Henderson is their LW champ, who defends the title in december. Dana said the winner of that fight will then get a shot at the winner of Edgar/Maynard for the UFC title.

not really a unification, but a promised title shot.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Meh who really cares if they have to let some lightweights go?

It really didn't make sense for the two leagues to be separate to begin with.

[Lakers 24 7]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

If Dana is serious about taking this worldwide and eventually running 2 different shows on the same night he's going to need a deep roster. So keep in mind that some of the markets they're trying to break into enjoy the smaller fighters and a lot of the WEC guys are on cheap contracts.

[Lakers 24 7]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

The rest of the WEC fighters aren't UFC worthy.

Not true at all, for this fact pointed out by carrabba

This is awesome since WEC cards have been way more entertaining than UFC ones recently. No doubt.

I can't remember the last time I've been disappointed with a WEC card, the UFC on the other hand it happens fairly often. The WEC has a roster full of talented, and extremely technical fighters who put on amazing shows. That alone makes them UFC worthy.

[DJ]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Good move. I'd imagine we'll see the UFC cutting a lot of dead weight in the WW, MW, LHW and HW divisions to keep the payroll in check.

I like that whoever is the WEC LW champion will get a shot at Edgar-Maynard. I hope Henderson retains; I like that dude.

I'm glad that more people will get to know who Aldo is, too. That dude is a bad, bad man.

[ManiacMatt1782]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Good move. I'd imagine we'll see the UFC cutting a lot of dead weight in the WW, MW, LHW and HW divisions to keep the payroll in check.

I like that whoever is the WEC LW champion will get a shot at Edgar-Maynard. I hope Henderson retains; I like that dude.

I'm glad that more people will get to know who Aldo is, too. That dude is a bad, bad man.

they said everyone is keeping their jobs, and everyone was on the payroll anyway, zuffa owned wec, which also owns ufc, the checks were all coming from the same place. its more of the rebranding of wec as ufc to give its fighters better recognition. the casual fan will now see jose aldo on a ufc event and say damn that 145 lbd dude is a freakin bad ***, where he wouldnt have seen him before because it was called wec instead of ufc. sad but true.

[DJ]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

they said everyone is keeping their jobs, and everyone was on the payroll anyway, zuffa owned wec, which also owns ufc, its more of the rebranding of wec as ufc to give its fighters better recognition.

For now. I'd imagine the rope will be shorter for a lot of fighters, especially ones like Tito Ortiz that are making a ton of money but aren't producing results.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I am more happy for Miguel Torres, he has been dominate in WEC ever since WEC founded and really is unknown outside of northwest Indiana. I been to his gym and house dozens of times when I lived in northwest Indiana.

Also happy for Manny, now he is back in the UFC via merger. For the most part though I am happy for all the mexican fighters that were in the WEC, which I must say was A LOT of them.

Now they will get the exposure they deserve. All I got to say is UFC vets you better step your BJJ and cardio game up, because a lot of those mexican fighters in the WEC were very good in BJJ and have stellar cardio.

In this same breathe however..........guys like Kenny Florian and some of the other light weight division may now look to drop down to feather weight, which is their more natural walking around weight class.

[ex carrabba fan]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I was thinking that, there may be a shift.. a number of lightweights can now go down to featherweight to challenge Aldo... so maybe Aldo won't have to move up immediately to find great match ups.