UFC-WEC merger

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ShareretweetEmailPrintThe best top-to-bottom cards in mixed martial arts on a consistent basis were, unquestionably, delivered by the World Extreme Cagefighting. Those fights will now take place on a significantly larger stage as Zuffa has folded the WEC into the Ultimate Fighting Championship, effective with UFC 125 on Jan. 1.

The UFC and the WEC each had its own lightweight divisions and their own champions, but those divisions will merge. WEC champion Benson Henderson will defend his title on Dec. 16 against Anthony Pettis. The winner will meet the winner of the UFC lightweight title fight at UFC 125 between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard later in 2011 for the undisputed belt.

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Is the UFC-WEC merger good for MMA?
Yes 81% 81%
No 19% 19% 1166 Votes

The UFC will simply fold the WEC’s bantamweight and featherweight divisions into its stable, giving it seven weight classes now, joining lightweight, welterweight (170 pounds), middleweight (185), light heavyweight (205) and heavyweight (265). WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will make his UFC debut at UFC 125 when he defends his title against an opponent to be named. The UFC will recognize the winner of the Dec. 16 fight between Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen as its bantamweight champion.


UFC president Dana White sees only positives in the merger.

(Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The addition of the WEC fighters to the UFC roster should provide deeper pay-per-view cards and provide higher-quality fights.

The downside for fight fans, at least in the short term, will be a reduction of free fights on television. In 2010, the UFC had two fights on Versus, which will expand to four under a new deal announced Thursday by UFC president Dana White. But the WEC has already had five fights on Versus and still will air cards on the cable network on Nov. 11 from Las Vegas and Dec. 16 from Glendale, Ariz. As a result, that was nine shows, which will be cut to four under the new deal.

Unless the UFC adds an additional television deal, those five shows won’t be replaced on free television, though White did not seem to mind.

“I’m not looking at this thing as a negative like, ‘Oh, we lost a couple of fights on Versus,’ ” White said. “It’s a positive. We’ve got the UFC on Versus. The last one we did pulled killer numbers. Now that we’ve added these other two weight classes to the UFC, everything is positive. I’m not looking at it like, ‘Oh, we lost two fights. We have to pick them up somewhere else.’ ”

White said the merger became necessary because of the UFC’s expansion and the growth of the business in general. Adding high-quality fights from the WEC to UFC pay-per-view shows will clearly strengthen the UFC cards and should at least lessen common fan complaints about the lack of championship fights and diluted pay-per-view cards.


WEC stars Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber will compete on a bigger stage.

(Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
White has become irate when fans complained about shows such as UFC 119 in September, which didn’t have a title fight or many of the company’s star attractions on it. But with the WEC fighters coming aboard, guys like Aldo and bantamweight Urijah Faber should instantly become household names and the complaints should decrease.

“It’s time,” White said of the long-sought merger. “As we continue to grow globally and we’re going into these new markets like China, India and Mexico, it’s time to do it. We’re doing enough fights, et cetera, et cetera, to fold this thing into the UFC. What’s always been in the cards is to continue to grow this sport and add every weight class, not just 135 and 145.

“The reality is, all of these weight classes should be in the UFC. There was a time early on, when we first bought this thing, that 155 didn’t even exist. Now, as we continue to grow and we’re doing more fights every year, and we’re going into these different markets, we can continue to add weight classes. That’s always been our goal. Our goal is to build this sport worldwide and continue to add weight divisions until we have every single weight division in the UFC.”

The two missing weight classes are flyweight, which has a limit of 125 pounds, and super heavyweight, which is everything above 266. White said the UFC will eventually add flyweight, though he’s not sure when, but will not add either super heavyweight or a women’s division. He’s long maintained that there are not enough super heavyweights or women to make a viable division and held that stance again Thursday.

The WEC used a 25-foot cage, but White said that all shows will be contested in the UFC’s 30-foot cage.

I think this is great news.

Although I was expecting this to eventually happen, I didn't expect it to happen that fast. There's no doubt in my mind that Urijah Faber can easily become a household name within UFC and I think he has the potential to become as big as GSP if he's able to align a winning streak quickly.

Personally, I believe it's cool that UFC added the bantamweight and featherweight divisions 'cause those fighters won't have to compete with an unfair advantage, in a division where they're not comfortable fighting in.

I don't know if it's the right analogy but I'd like to think that it's very similar to when WWF bought WCW in March of 2001. Only difference is that Dana White won't hesitate to push the former WEC guys on the forefront, knowing that he's gonna make tons of money with them.

The guy you need to watch out for is Aldo. That guy is unbelievable at everything. He has BJJ, great striking, great kicks, and he is fast as hell. He whooped Faber's ass at WEC 48. There isn't even a guy in the WEC that can test Aldo anymore, I am very happy to see this. It might be a bit of an adjustment, but it will be awesome for Aldo to finally get scene on the big stage and give a real shot and being known as the best Pound for Pound fighter in the world. The sole reason he is not ranked that high is the competion. The guy should be talked about in the sams sentence and GSP and Silva.

Jose Aldo is great and all but I consider Urijah Faber probably the guy to watch.

Really? Aldo beat his ass for 25 mins. After the 1st 3 RD's, Faber could barely stand up, after vicous leg kicks from Aldo. Faber was going to drop weight classes, down to 135, but I don't know if that will happen now.

I shit you not, Aldo fucked Faber up. Faber's leg after his fight with Aldo:



To be honest, I think Faber's time is coming to a close. About 2 years ago this guy was the biggest thing, he couldn't be touched, and was the WEC's go to guy when they hosted cards in California. But after his loss to Mike Brown, one of the most hyped fights in the WEC, he hasn't done much else. A win over a declining Pulver, another loss against Brown, nice win over Assuncao, then raped again against Aldo. He's even had to change weight classes now to try and remain relevant and have a shot at any titles.

Aldo & Torres, those are the 2 guys I'm keeping my eye on.

Also, what's interesting about this merger is that the WEC has their own LW division, so we're going to actually see a unification bout. If Anthony Petis can win, I think he can be a fan favourite in the UFC with his style.

Ironically, baba and I were talking about this a couple of months back. I was saying that Aldo should fight on a UFC card and baba said that wouldn't happen unless there was a merger. Here is that merger and I think it will be great.

What the merger also provides Aldo an opportunity is move up weight classes. He's obviously dominating his division and much like GSP or AS, he now has the opportunity to move up freely and get to face the top LWs in the world. How awesome would Aldo/Penn look

I totally suggested that months ago and you remembered. I knew you liked really liked me. America and Canada, on the same page.