UFC and WEC Will MERGE in 2011

[EmpireWF]

http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/10/28/dana-white-wec-ufc-to-merge-in-2011/

From Meltzer:

Jose Aldo Jr. will defend his featherweight title on the 1/1 show in Las Vegas.

The 12/16 Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis WEC lightweight title match winner gets a shot at the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard winner for the next shot.

[CrimsonGhost56]

sweet. gonna be a lot more stacked cards worth the money

[EmpireWF]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCIWWLnJSN4[/ame]


Starting in January, the WEC's 135, 145 and 155 divisions will join the UFC. WEC as we know it will end with their December 16th show on Versus.

Four UFC shows will air on Versus in 2011.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Long overdue. The WEC ratings are awful (further proof you need more than "good fights" to draw), and UFC needs a deeper roster if they insist on running as many shows as they do.

[Steel Mamba]

This is both good & bad.

Good that the PPVs will be better, but bad that there will be less high caliber guys fighting for free.

[Bmore]

I would love to see Ben Henderson beat Gray Lay-N-Pray Maynards ass.

There may in fact be a god.

[Warner2BruceTD]

This is both good & bad.

Good that the PPVs will be better, but bad that there will be less high caliber guys fighting for free.

Yup, and its a tricky situation, because you are serving two masters. You can't put total trash on tv, because you need to produce a number.

We will still get the euro ppv's for free, and those cards are usually better than UFN quality. I think the Versus shows will get the crappy lineups, because it shouldn't be too difficult to top the 0.6 & 0.8's the bad WEC's were drawing. If the UFC's do 1.0 or better Versus will jump for joy.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I like it, but I don't...I need to see how they run things.

[Liquidrob]

It's good and bad

The good is that anyone on a main card will get more sponsership money, more exporsure for the stars and the chance at higher pays with FOTN, KOTN and SOTN

The bad is that you think the PPV's will be better with more quality fighters, but they will offset that with more PPV's and try and dilute the cards to make more money, I don't see many 145ers and 135ers making the main card besides the champs and Faber, but at least the undercards should be better

The UFC bigger cage will create less exciting matches for the smaller guys, there will be a lot more running room for these guys and take away from the great fights you usually see in the WEC cage

Zuffa doesnt even like promoting the 155ers besides Penn, or going after talent at 155, so don't see them really pushing or trying to get big name talent for the lighter weights

More cost for fights that were free

[Liquidrob]

[Irish]

Lets hope for some cage side cat fights between Britney Palmer and Arinary Celeste.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I would eat the corn out of Palmer's shit. So much better than "the beautiful Arianny".

[Warner2BruceTD]

Vince McMahon fucked his share of ho's in his day. Does Dana know his father?

[SuperKevin]

Finally some of the lighter guys will get some mainstream exposure. You'd be surprised how many "MMA fans" I run into in the military who have never heard of Uriah Faber.

[Warner2BruceTD]

This comes about 2 or 3 years too late for Faber, who would have been a mega star if he fought for UFC in his prime.