It was a big day for the ZUFFA owned Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting promotions. While some of us were on a plane and unable to offer a timely update, UFC president Dana White announced the merger of both companies under the UFC banner.
What does this all mean and when will this happen you say? Well here’s a brief explanation of what went down.
– The WEC will carry on with it’s scheduled events for the rest of the year, but come January, both promotions will merge. White stated “What’s exciting for these lighter-weight guys, they’re finally on the biggest stage in the world now.”
– The first big name to cross over will be featherweight champ Jose Aldo. He’ll defend his title at UFC 125 on Jan. 1st against an unnamed opponent. This is good news for the New Years Day card as they were looking at some poor PPV numbers. Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard isn’t at the top of the list for ppv’s fans are willing to dish money out for.
– UFC Lightweight Title: The winner of the upcoming WEC 53 lightweight title bout between champion Ben Henderson and challenger Anthony Pettis will determine the No.1 contender position for the UFC belt. The current UFC champ Frankie Edgar will meet Gray Maynard on Jan. 1st, so the health of both winners will likely determine the fight date.
– The UFC is still maintaining a presence on the Versus network, the traditional home of the WEC, by showing four UFC events in 2011. The UFC is also maintaining it’s partnership with Spike TV.
– For those of you wondering what would become of WEC cage girl Brittney Palmer, UFC president Dana White noted that “She goes to the UFC too,” she’ll join Arianny Celeste and Chandella Powell cageside.
– With a merger one would expect there to be a few firings, but the UFC president said all of the WEC staff would move over to the UFC including WEC boss Reed Harris.
“When I started the WEC, we thought we’d maybe do one show,” Harris told MMAjunkie.com . “To be sitting here today and have something that I was involved in become part of the biggest sports company in the world is very satisfying…At this point, I’m not able to discuss my role because we’re going to focus on November and December,” Harris. “Now these fights take on a whole new importance – obviously for the fighters and our organization.”