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World Extreme Cagefighting

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World Extreme Cagefighting
Company typePrivate
IndustryMixed martial arts (MMA) promotion
FoundedJune 30, 2001
DefunctDecember 16, 2010
FateMerged with Ultimate Fighting Championship
SuccessorUltimate Fighting Championship
Key people
Scott Adams and Reed Harris
ParentZuffa
Websitehttp://www.wec.tv

World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. It is currently owned by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), both owned and produced by a bunch of cocksuckers. The WEC is made up of 3 weight classes, 135, 145 and 155lbs. Like the UFC, it operates under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. To accommodate the smaller fighters, the WEC's cage is 25 ft. in diameter, 5 ft. smaller than the UFC's. It has been announced that the promotion will merge with the UFC in January 2011 [1].

History

The organization was started in 2001, by Scott Adams and Reed Harris. Between 2001 and 2006, most of their events were held in Lemoore, California and aired on HDNet.

In December 2006, Zuffa purchased the WEC. With the purchase, the WEC continues as a separate promotion with its own roster of fighters. Adams was retained after the purchase as the organization's matchmaker. Harris and Adams were named co-General Managers and are both active in the new WEC.[2] In 2008, Sean Shelby was named the new match-maker for the promotion by Zuffa.

Zuffa made several changes to the promotion after the purchase. It discontinued its pentagonal cage for a modified version of the UFC's octagonal cage. The championships of fighters who were contracted UFC fighters were vacated. The promotion moved to focus on lighter weight classes, abandoning their heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions and championships, and retaining their bantamweight and featherweight divisions—two divisions not then present in the UFC.[3] Since the purchase, several of the WEC events have been held in Zuffa's hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, much like the UFC.

The WEC currently airs their events live on Versus, formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network, The Sports Network in Canada, and on The Score, also in Canada.[4] WEC's first live event was broadcast on June 3, 2007 on Versus from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The WEC announced that it would dissolve their light heavyweight and middleweight divisions after their December 3, 2008 event to further their concentration on lighter classes. Fighters from the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions started fighting in the UFC after the dissolution of their divisions.[5] Also, on February 3, 2009, the WEC officially announced the creation of a 125 lb. Flyweight Division and the dissolution of its welterweight division (Flyweight is the last division under the "Unified Rules of MMA" remaining, excluding Super Heavyweight, to be activated under ZUFFA). Fighters from the welterweight division started fighting in the UFC after the dissolution of their division. The only weight class remaining to cross-over between the WEC and the UFC is the 155 lb Lightweight division.[6]

On January 8, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting announced that AMP Energy will be the official energy drink of WEC. Amp Energy will also sponsor three of the WEC's top stars - featherweight Urijah Faber, featherweight Chad Mendes, and bantamweight Joseph Benavidez.

On April 24, 2010, the WEC held its first Pay-per-view consisting of two championship fights. The main event was José Aldo vs. Urijah Faber.[7]

On October 28, 2010, Dana White, UFC President announced that WEC will merge with UFC.[8]

Relationship with UFC

Due to its shared ownership under Zuffa, fans and commentators have continually speculated about a unification between the WEC and the UFC, particularly the lower weight classes.[9][10][11] The 125-145 classes are of particular interest because the WEC's champions at those weight-classes are competitive with the best MMA fighters in the world, whereas the 155-pound class (and prior, heavier weight-classes) have been effectively minor-league caliber compared to their UFC counterparts. The relationship between the WEC and UFC has also been complicated by their respective primary partnerships with cable television channels, Versus and Spike. Fight Magazine reports:

[Keeping the WEC] made a certain kind of sense in that it allowed Zuffa to extend its reach without overextending the UFC staff while squatting on Versus, a cable channel interested in broadcasting MMA. Why Zuffa decided to retain a 155-pound division in the WEC remains a mystery, but discussions about a 125-pound flyweight division and a contract extension with Versus despite the fact that the channel was dropped by DirectTV pointed to at least a couple more years of promotional independence... But then... the UFC announced that it would air events on Versus in 2010. On its face, the deal further jumbles an already confusing relationship between the UFC, WEC, the UFC’s basic cable partner Spike TV, and Versus...No one is kidding themselves about the WEC staying independent forever – the promotion will be folded into the UFC eventually, if for no other reason than trying to promote an MMA fighter who isn’t in the UFC is a Sisyphean task... But by keeping the WEC independent for as long as they have, and maintaining a presence on Versus, the UFC has positioned itself beautifully for future TV deals and given Versus a major bargaining chip in future negotiations with DirectTV....Versus is owned by Comcast, which just acquired NBC Universal. NBC flirted with MMA through it’s late-night Strikeforce show but a UFC card in primetime would deliver NFL-playoff like ratings and ad revenues for a network that is struggling to retain what few young viewers it has left.[12]

On October 28, Dana White announced that the WEC would be merging with the UFC in early 2011. [13]


Media coverage

Country Primary Channel
United States USA Versus
Australia Australia Setanta Sports
Brazil Brazil Sportv (Canal Combate)
Canada Canada The Score
United Kingdom United Kingdom Planned to come in January 2011
Denmark Denmark Canal 9

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCIWWLnJSN4&feature=sub
  2. ^ Ken Pishna, Ivan Trembow (December 11, 2006). "UFC Buying World Extreme Cagefighting". MMAWeekly. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Savage, Greg (January 4, 2007). "The Savage Truth: When is a Loss a Win?". Sherdog.
  4. ^ Pishna, Ken (December 28, 2006). "UFC on HBO; WEC on Versus". MMAWeekly. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Martin, Damon (August 26, 2008). "WEC shuts down 205 & 185-pound weight classes". MMAWeekly.com. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
  6. ^ "WEC axes welterweights; announces flyweights". MMAWeekly.com. February 3, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2009.
  7. ^ http://www.wec.tv/index.cfm?fa=eventdetail.fightCard&eid=2922
  8. ^ http://mmajunkie.com/news/21189/ufc-and-wec-set-to-merge-in-2011-events-to-air-on-versus-and-spike-tv.mma
  9. ^ UFC has weight-and-see attitude for WEC
  10. ^ A UFC-WEC merger? Why not?
  11. ^ Does the WEC still matter?
  12. ^ With UFC’s Recent Moves, White’s Predictions Might Have Been Conservative
  13. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCIWWLnJSN4&feature=sub

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