http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-merger110110The folding of World Extreme Cagefighting after its Dec. 16 show in Glendale, Ariz., and bringing its signature bantamweight (135 pounds) and featherweight (145 pounds) divisions to the Ultimate Fighting Championships comes with a lot of obvious positives.
Over the long run, it creates higher caliber fights in major UFC events, more title matches and, once new stars are established, more depth on pay-per-view shows. But the merger also comes with some costs. Midlevel fighters in other weight classes will be cut more quickly. Until WEC’s stars establish themselves with the UFC audience, the new company will go through something akin to a football franchise having a “rebuilding year.”
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The biggest positives are for the championship-caliber lightweight fighters. Being included in UFC pay-per-view shows means a huge jump in exposure and greatly increases the economic value of holding those two championship belts.
Soon-to-be-former WEC bantamweight Dominick Cruz said he's always wanted to fight in the UFC. (Josh Hedges/Getty Images)
On the flip side, UFC faces a significant restructuring of its roster over the next few months. This is because there likely will be fewer shows in 2011, so cuts will need to be made.
Nobody from UFC has given exact roster numbers, but UFC president Dana White estimated they currently have about 200 fighters on its active roster, and last week WEC officials pegged their roster at about 70. That breaks down to about 40 fighters in each of the five UFC weight classes and about two dozen in each of the three WEC divisions.
The roster size is based on a basic formula: The company estimates how many fights it will be promoting per calendar year and assumes that each fighter will fight three times. It also accounts for backup fighters as injuries are prevalent.
In 2010, UFC will run a total of 24 shows while WEC has run eight. The number of events for next year is not etched in stone, but based on what most are estimating, one can expect 26 or 27 next year between pay-per-view and television events on Spike and Versus. That number could change if a deal with a broadcast network is worked out.
“We’re already maxed out on pay-per-view,” said White (UFC will end up running 15 pay-per-view events this year). “If anything, as we add more weight classes, we’ll add more free fights. You’ll get four free fights [up from two free UFC events but down seven WEC fights in 2010,] on Versus.”
Most likely, the new roster will wind up in the 210-230 fighter range, but spread over seven weight classes, that means about 30 to 32 fighters per division. Those numbers will vary because the featherweight and bantamweight rosters are well below that number coming in, while every other class is well above that number. That means cuts are inevitable from heavyweight down to welterweight, putting more pressure on marginal fighters to either win, or at least lose exciting fights – and not lose too often.
The biggest change is likely to be in the lightweight division, the only division that both the UFC and WEC ran. Between the two rosters, there are about 60 fighters, a number that will be greatly reduced over the next year. That puts a lot of fighters – including fighters with name value – in jeopardy.
Some have theorized the end result will be that several lightweights will move down to featherweight. A number of UFC fighters who could have fought at featherweight had already chosen to stay at lightweight because they would have had to move to WEC, where the economic opportunities weren’t nearly as great.
The prime example of this is someone who is not likely to make the move any time soon: UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Edgar fights at 155, but is undersized compared to most in the division. He was constantly asked about moving down a weight class, but it made no sense economically, even though he wrestled in college at 141 pounds.
There will be other growing pains, which the company hopes will be temporary. The first championship fight with the new weight classes will be the Jan. 1 pay-per-view show from Las Vegas, with Jose Aldo Jr. (18-1) defending the new UFC featherweight title (formerly WEC featherweight championship) against Josh Grispi (14-1). It will be promoted as the No. 2 match on the show behind Edgar’s title defense against Gray Maynard.
Aldo Jr., while highly thought of by insiders and ranked No. 3 in the world in the Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings, still doesn’t have the star power that most fighters with his ranking would have, although his potential is unlimited. Grispi, even with four straight first-round finishes, is an unknown to the UFC audience. But that’s only temporary as those fighters get exposure and fans become familiar with the new championships.
The current plan is for Sean Shelby, who was the WEC matchmaker, to remain matchmaker for the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, while UFC’s Joe Silva handles the other five weight classes. While the number will vary per show, expect three matches per event coming from the two lighter divisions. All championship matches in the new divisions probably will be No. 2 matches on pay-per-views at first, but based on how things work out, they could headline shows if they are the only championship match on an event.
But it’s the up-and-coming bantamweight and featherweight contenders who will need main-card exposure. With just five main-card fights per show, that could mean some tough decisions when trying to balance out guys who need exposure for future title fights against matches featuring established stars that the public would be more interested in seeing.
While no fighter worked harder over the last three years in building the WEC brand, when Urijah Faber woke up Thursday and heard the news, it was a dream come true.
“I’m stoked to be fighting for the UFC,” Faber said. “To me, it’s always been the same company [both were owned by Zuffa]. I had been pushing for the two to merge. I’ve always wanted to be in the UFC.”
Faber, 31, who faces Takeya Mizugaki when he moves down to bantamweight for the WEC show on Nov. 11 in Las Vegas, would be in line for the first title shot in a major UFC event should he win. Faber defeated current champion Dominick Cruz via first-round submission on March 24, 2007, when both fought as featherweights and Faber was the one defending the title.
“We’ve always had the best lighter-weight fighters in the world, but to the public, UFC is the best,” said Faber (23-4), who was WEC featherweight champion and face of the company for more than two years before moving down a weight class after losing to Aldo Jr. in April. “I was always asked, ‘When are you going to be in UFC?’ I would try to tell people that WEC is where the best fighters in my weight were, so this saves me from always having to explain it.”
From a marketing standpoint, Faber, with his look, fighting style and demeanor, had the potential to be right behind Georges St. Pierre as the most sought-after MMA fighter for endorsements. Not being in UFC lowered his ceiling. He noted he’s glad the move was made while he’s still in his athletic prime. But to reach that potential, he’s also going to have to get a championship.
Faber noted that along with increased sponsorships and appearance fees for pay-per-view shows, the value of the performance bonuses including fight of the night, submission of the night and knockout of the night, go from $10,000 for most WEC events to $60,000 to $80,000 on a UFC pay-per-view event.
“From a fighting standpoint, it doesn’t make a big difference,” said the 25-year-old Cruz (16-1), who said he didn’t have a hint the change was coming until he woke up Thursday morning and heard the news. “I’m still training for the same fight [he will defend against Scott Jorgensen in the final WEC event]. I was already fighting against the best fighters in the world in my weight class.
“For me, it’s all good. I’ve got a chance to make bigger bonuses. I started fighting seven years ago, and my goal was always to be in UFC. If I win my next fight, I’ll become part of history because I’ll be the first UFC bantamweight champion.”
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