Two Things Zuffa Must Do With The WEC
by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 12, 2009 10:15 AM EDT
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PrintSo another weekend has come and gone, and we got a chance to witness one of the best MMA events of the year in WEC 43. All of the fights were action packed, and the main event was an incredible battle of will, heart, and skills between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson. However, the only negative about it is that the majority of casual MMA fans more than likely didn't watch the event. The WEC just continues to put on quality event after quality event and it's sad that the promotion/fighters are not benefiting more from the fruits of their labor. Which is why it has come to the point where I believe Zuffa needs to do one of two things with the WEC:
- Merge the WEC divisions into the UFC
- Devote proper funds to promote WEC events properly
I've talked about why I think the WEC/UFC should merge together, so I won't bore you with beating that dead horse again. However, if Zuffa doesn't have that in the plans then they need to devote funding to promote the WEC properly. It's absurd that the fighters come out and fight the way they do to make way less than their UFC counterparts. Not only that, the WEC live events ratings can't even match replays of old UFC Unleashed shows on Spike TV. That tells you all you need to know about how much focus they put on promoting the WEC brand. Now WEC GM Reed Harris has gone on record saying the the WEC will start putting on more events basically equaling to one per month from here on out. That's cool, but if Zuffa isn't going to promote the cards properly, then why bother? I mean where was the promotion for WEC 43? Granted, the card wasn't exactly stacked with the WEC posterboys or anything, but there were quality fighters on that card. What about letting the headliners of each WEC card do video blogs like they do with the UFC guys? How about promoting future WEC events on Spike the same way they promote future UFC events on the Versus channel?
It's time for Zuffa to either fully get behind the WEC brand or just dissolve it into the UFC.
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Here’s my only concern. This weekend, after the Assuncao/Jabouin fight, Crunkilton/Jansen seemed super slow. Could you imagine watching a HW fight after a BW fight, it’d be so slow it’d be unwatchable. I kind of think having 2 orgs is better from a functional standpoint; keep 125, 135, 145, and 155 in the WEC with a slightly smaller cage, keep 170, 185, 205 and 265 in the UFC with the bigger cage.
The critical problem
is that casual fans are not all that interested in watching the little guys.
Bloody hell.
I dunno man
most casual fans I know dig the WEC if they are exposed to it…..thing is….that’s not happening
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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 12, 2009 11:30 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I dunno man
most casual fans I know dig the WEC if they are exposed to it…..thing is….that’s not happening
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by Kelvin Hunt on Oct 12, 2009 11:31 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
plus DirecTV doesn’t even carry this!!!!!!!!!!
by Charles Walker on Oct 12, 2009 10:48 AM EDT reply actions
i was watching ( I admit it) PBR bullriding on the versus network the other night…and a lady in the crowd had up a sign that read "DirecTV took away my Versus)…..as far as casual fans, that’s b/c the UFC folded the lightweight division early on and the emphasis has been on bigger weight classes…so the “casual” fan has been raised on chuck liddell, now brock lesnar, GSP, Matt Hughes…and to some extent BJ Penn.
for my money, i’d pay to see a WEC event…i have YET to be disappointed with a WEC….even with the commercials etc. Hell, my girlfriend has said “I like watching the WEC with you more than going out to see a UFC. The UFC is a letdown a lot of the time. The fights are just boring.”
Even to the casual fan, you can see a far faster pace and more transitions in the WEC.
Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei.
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by theworldsoldestsport on Oct 12, 2009 12:04 PM EDT reply actions
i have been to a live wec event.
it was the carlos condit vs brock larson fight for the welterweight title. they had a great card. jamie varner was on it and so was a local emplyee of the hard rock hotel who fights in the wec. i would recommend going to one. they built a new joint at the hard rock hotel and it holds more people than the old joint. this is the hard rock hotel in las vegas nevada. tickets are much less than at a ufc event. you will be also much closer to the action than say when mandalay bay holds a pay per view ufc event. unless you have 800 dollars to shell out.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 13, 2009 7:01 PM EDT up reply actions
Also, I'm not really the one to speak on this
Because I’m incredibly biased towards heavier weight classes (middleweight and over)… I will say this though: the WEC kind of missed it’s window of opportunity when they had two extremely charismatic champions in the form of Miguel Torres and Urijah Faber (from a straight marketing POV)
Bloody hell.
good point
because as I pointed out the other night…Mike Brown needs mic work something serious.
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