UFC and WEC Merging!!!

[aholbert32]

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.

Kenny walks around at 175. No way he drops to featherweight.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I for one would love to see Nate Diaz drop down to featherweight. I think his frame is better suited for that division. He really isn't strong like his brother is and he gets pushed around in lightweight and welterweight.

Featherweight might be a good division for Joe Stevenson too, along with Gomi.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

This is really great news. I don't watch WEC events very much, because I always forget about them. Now I can catch more fights. I bet the THQ developers are like, "Damn." More character models for us to do.

[bkfount]

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.

The UFC did this to combat overexposure and lackluster cards. They've exploded the past few years, and they've occasionally been stretched thin on talent for some events. The upcoming Germany card is an example of this.

They've had the WEC for years, but because it doesn't carry the UFC name and is on Versus, it's not getting much recognition for the quality fights that go on. This raises the quality and depth of the UFC product, but I don't see them shedding tons of guys, as they will probably make more events anyways.

[franch1se]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

This is really great news. I don't watch WEC events very much, because I always forget about them. Now I can catch more fights. I bet the THQ developers are like, "Damn." More character models for us to do.

I wonder how this affects their decision for releasing every 2 years now. If this makes them release one this year or wait and get more models in.

[Bona Fide]

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.

The WEC fighters will be making more money in the UFC. If it's like the WW and MW merger than they will get their contracts renegotiated.

[goh]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I'm thinking it results it much better fight nights (even if there was less) and co-main events on PPV. Should also mean there won't be a PPV without a title fight now barring injuries. Unless they just want to leave them off the UK shows.

[BlueNGold]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I wonder how this affects their decision for releasing every 2 years now. If this makes them release one this year or wait and get more models in.

Doubt this would change that. If anything it gives them more of a reason to wait 2 years so that they can add in all these new fighters and get them correct when it comes to appearance, tendencies, etc.

[JerseySuave4]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

Even though i could eventually see this coming this is still great news. He just needs to make sure its on Spike and Versus a few times a month along with the PPV. If this is a year round sport in the way that golf & nascar sort of are, he needs to have this thing showing somewhere on a nightly basis because even those sports have everyday channels just for them. I'm not saying events every night, but i'd love to see Versus get InsideMMA from HD Net and get those guys involved with the weekly show or something.

The more exposure it gets and the more people get exposed to the skills involved and what MMA really is, the less the shock value will be and the better chances it gets to being sanctioned nationally. Plus the better PPV numbers you'll get because people are going to know who all of these guys are if they are exposed to them more.

When you watch espn and watch college football live throughout the week they show you some of the sports science behind things. Same for NBA Fastbreak, NFL Live, MLB tonight. They give you previews of the games. They need this type of thing for the UFC. With a deeper pool of talent, they have plenty of guys to fight throughout the year.

[Sandman42]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

The way they deal with the extra lightweights will probably be the same they dealt with the other divisions when Zuffa originally bought WEC and got rid of the higher weight classes. The big names (Henderson, Cerrone, Varner, Pettis) will all end up in the UFC, while most of the smaller names at lightweight will probably fight one another on prelims and the loser of the fight will get cut.

Great move though. It was time to get a bigger spotlight for guys like Aldo, Faber, and Cruz. Hopefully the 2 extra weight classes will get rid of some of the weaker cards we've seen this year especially the upcoming UFC 122.

[redsrule]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

The way they deal with the extra lightweights will probably be the same they dealt with the other divisions when Zuffa originally bought WEC and got rid of the higher weight classes. The big names (Henderson, Cerrone, Varner, Pettis) will all end up in the UFC, while most of the smaller names at lightweight will probably fight one another on prelims and the loser of the fight will get cut.

Great move though. It was time to get a bigger spotlight for guys like Aldo, Faber, and Cruz. Hopefully the 2 extra weight classes will get rid of some of the weaker cards we've seen this year especially the upcoming UFC 122.

The winner of henderson/pettis and maynard/edgar will fight to merge title according to mmajunkie.
ALso aldo is fighitng on ufc 125.

[sven]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I for one would love to see Nate Diaz drop down to featherweight. I think his frame is better suited for that division. He really isn't strong like his brother is and he gets pushed around in lightweight and welterweight.

Featherweight might be a good division for Joe Stevenson too, along with Gomi.

Diaz doesn't even like the cut to 155. There is no way he drops to 145. Stevenson is also one of the bigger LW's out there. He was nearly 200 at one point on TUF. He is in better shape now but I bet he still walks around at atleast 180. I don't see him ever dropping to BW either.

[H8ff0000]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I'm thinking it results it much better fight nights (even if there was less) and co-main events on PPV. Should also mean there won't be a PPV without a title fight now barring injuries. Unless they just want to leave them off the UK shows.

If the major network deal, which has been strongly rumored to start next year, actually comes to fruition, then I would expect to see a good mix of these WEC guys fighting on there. A big reason for the network deal is to attract a wider audience, people that don't know most if not all of even the big name UFC fighters. Name recognition won't mean anything. What will matter is results. Excitement. Intensity. These guys bring that in spades.

Diaz doesn't even like the cut to 155. There is no way he drops to 145. Stevenson is also one of the bigger LW's out there. He was nearly 200 at one point on TUF. He is in better shape now but I bet he still walks around at atleast 180. I don't see him ever dropping to BW either.

Agreed.

I could be wrong about some of these, but some guys who could possibly drop down: Mark Bocek, Mac Danzig, Rafael Dos Anjos, Frankie Edgar, Spencer Fisher, Clay Guida, Ross Pearson, Kurt Pellegrino, BJ Penn, Thiago Tavares

[allBthere]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

I think the comment of less fights (events) could be somewhat true...

Would we expect to see the same number of ufc cards as previous ufc + wec cards combined? I imagine it would be a bit less.

I don't really care to see 135 and south...absolutely not 125 - I'm the same way with boxing fo the most part, and I don'tcare to see women either.

So in that sense, I bet some cards I will like more than others simply because of that fact.

Overall I think and hope it won't change things too much, and I think the best part is having those high level lightweights fight other high level lightweights. I've always liked watching cerrone and henderson as well so it will be cool to see those guys fight the ufc's top shelf.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: UFC and WEC Merging!!!

As someone who doesn't follow the WEC, I'm interested to see how often we see "WEC" fighters headline or co-headline PPV's. A large majority of UFC fans probably have no idea who any of the WEC guys are.