Tag Archives: Merger

Anthony Pettis Waits for his Shot at UFC Gold

In late October, UFC President Dana White made one of the first big announcements of the UFC/WEC merger. He said the winner of last week’s WEC lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis would face the winner of January’s UFC 125 title fight between champ Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard.

The UFC Needs the WEC

After watching the WEC and UFC events last week, one thing is very clear, the UFC needs the WEC. Any way you look at it, World Extreme Cagefighting put on a more exciting and energetic show.

Urijah Faber backed up the hype and entered the bantamweight division with an impressive submission victory over Takeya Mizugaki. Eric Koch provided an impressive TKO victory and Joseph Benavidez followed up his five round war with title holder Dominick Cruz only 3 short months ago, with a second round submission victory over Wagnney Fabiano.

Demetrious Johnson: The Ultimate Prospect

The WEC merger into the UFC will showcase new fighters in new weight classes that many casual MMA fans know little about. One of the best new prospects in MMA is Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (8-1 MMA).

Which UFC Lightweights could move down to featherweight?

With the UFC/WEC merger set to happen at the beginning of 2011, the smaller UFC Lightweights will finally have the option of dropping down to Featherweight while remaining a UFC fighter. Staying in the UFC meant being in the “big show” and everything that comes with that, including earning more money. Moving to the WEC though, while still under the ZUFFA banner meant less recognition, less sponsorship money and smaller paychecks.

UFC/WEC Merger Bullet Points

Thursday the UFC announced that on January 1, 2011 the WEC would merge into the UFC. The merger had been talked about for some time and as Dana White said during the press conference “the time is right for this”.

Since the announcement the merger has been broken down, dissected and picked apart. Some have called it great for the sport, while others are worried about the monopoly the UFC now has on MMA.

The merger is big news for MMA, but a lot for the fans to wrap their heads around. What does the merger mean for the fighters and the fans and how does it affect them both is what’s we will attempt to help answer below.

WEC and UFC Lightweight champs to battle it out

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple days, or just haven’t heard yet, the UFC and the WEC have merged together and at the start of the New Year the WEC will be under the UFC banner together. This means that now on the UFC roster are Bantamweights and Featherweights, in addition to a new group of Lightweights.