What UFC-WEC merger means for fans

The 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

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.

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.

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.

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“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

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Octagon Observations: UFC 121 aftermath

ANAHIEM, Calif. – An Octagon’s worth of observations after a memorable UFC 121 at the Honda Center

1. Branching out: Cain Velasquez’s victory over Brock Lesnar could be a watershed moment in the UFC’s attempt to grow mixed martial arts fan base. The company heavily marketed Velasquez’s Mexican heritage in the run-up to the fight. The fruits of this push were evident in the Honda Center crowd’s vociferous reaction to Velasquez’s victory. For sheer volume, the intensity level was matched only by Georges St. Pierre’s 2008 title victory over Matt Serra in his hometown of Montreal. With Oscar De La Hoya retired from boxing, the Marquez brothers heading to the back end of their magnificent careers and no obvious successor on the horizon, there is an opportunity for the UFC to make Velasquez the marquee player among Latino combat sports figures. What Velasquez lacks in charisma he makes up for with his heart and his courage as a heavyweight who is smaller that most of his foes – a trait that cuts across all ethnicities and creeds.

2. Brock’s next step: Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Lesnar’s career is how the MMA world has watched him develop under an intense spotlight. Each fight leads to a new set of questions about how the former champion, who only has seven fights under his belt, will respond. The question this time: What will be his reaction to getting his tail kicked for the first time? Lesnar marches to the beat of his own drummer and for all we know, he could end up deciding he’s made enough money and it is time to move on. But here’s guessing that a trilogy fight with Frank Mir, who Lesnar legitimately despises, is enough to get the former champ’s competitive juices flowing again.

3. Title worthy? So Jake Shields comes into the UFC, looks listless in claiming a split-decision victory over Martin Kampmann that many felt Kampmann won … and UFC president Dana White says he’s going ahead with his plan to give Shields a UFC welterweight title shot. Good luck selling that one, Dana.

4. Where does Diego go? Diego Sanchez appears to have made the right career move in returning to his roots with Greg Jackson’s camp, as his exciting win over Paulo Thiago at UFC 121 attests. Now, hopefully Jackson will get Sanchez to focus on committing to a single weight class. Sanchez has spoken of fighting at both 170 pounds and 155, but jumping between weight classes is more suited for a veteran who doesn’t figure into championship plans. Sanchez is still young enough to make another run at a championship, and the sooner he picks a path, the faster he’ll move forward.

5. The Tito show: Here’s the UFC’s dilemma with Tito Ortiz: Do you give the former UFC light heavyweight champion another fight or two to try to find his rhythm, or do you cut ties now, before his performance drops off a cliff? Ortiz has remained competitive in each of his past five fights, going to a decision in four of them. But he’s 0-4-1 in that stretch after his loss to Matt Hamill on Saturday, and his level of opposition has decreased with each successive fight. Ortiz has been valiant in battling through a series of injuries, but time is not on his side. The UFC may be better off releasing the former champ before his performances turn embarrassing.


6. Going, going, Gonzaga: Brendan Schaub notched the biggest win of his career Saturday night with his decision victory over Gabriel Gonzaga. But the match underscored how Gonzaga has become one of MMA’s biggest cases of squandered potential. Gonzaga possessed all the tools to become a great one, and he appeared well on his way after his legendary head-kick knockout of Mirko Cro Cop in 2007. But Gonzaga never left his small Western Massachusetts camp, never was pushed in the gym by elite heavyweights and never quite made it to the top. With three losses in his last four fights, Gonzaga is walking on thin ice.

7. Losing a step: Longtime fans consider it heresy to critique referee John McCarthy, ever, for any reason. But the icon of the sport had a bad night at UFC 121. In Tom Lawlor’s victory over Patrick Cote, McCarthy was the only person in the building who missed an egregious foul, as Cote blatantly grabbed the fence and used it to gain the leverage to get out of a Lawlor submission attempt. Then, in the Ortiz-Hamill fight, McCarthy was too slow in getting between Hamill and Ortiz at the end of Round 1. Hamill is deaf and can’t hear the horn to signal the end of the round; because McCarthy was late, Ortiz ate a punch to the head after the round ended. McCarthy’s place as a pivotal figure in MMA history is secure, but just like fighters, referees pass their peaks as well. Saturday night may have shown that McCarthy is losing a step.

8. Stout-hearted: If you buy a ticket to a UFC event and Sam Stout is on the card, it is a fair bet that you’ll get 15 minutes of good-to-great standup action. All seven of his UFC bouts in the past three years have gone the distance. Most of those fights have been back-and-forth standup slugfests, and he’s come away with Fight of the Night honors five times. His latest win came Saturday night, when was slightly better than Paul Taylor in a split-decision victory. The UFC seems content to keep Stout in an entertaining lower-card slot, but with three wins in his past four fights, it’s time to give the London, Ontario, native a crack at a high-level lightweight.