I should of asked for a new car or something...

I was all set to write Part 2 of my blog detailing why the UFC should merge with their smaller WEC promotion and then Dana White announces that the UFC would absorb the WEC's roster of fighters.  Way to steal my thunder.

The WEC will finish the final two events they had scheduled in 2010 and come January of 2011 the WEC will be no more.  This sets up a few interesting situations that will be hashed out in the coming months.

The winner of the December 16th WEC Lightweight title fight between champion, Ben Henderson, and Anthony Pettis will get to fight the winner of Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard for the UFC Lightweight title.  Also, Jose Aldo will be defending his UFC Featherweight title at UFC 125.  Just saying Jose Aldo and UFC title in the same sentence makes me smile.  The guy is a star and will finally get the attention from casual fans he deserves.  All the WEC employees will be brought over to the UFC, even down to the ring card girl, Brittany Palmer.

I'm off to search for more pictures of Brittany Palmer.  Umm.  For research.  Yes, blog research.

Why a UFC/WEC merger should happen - Part 1

I briefly touched on the subject of the UFC absorbing the WEC in my last post.  Countless MMA journalists have called for the WEC and its lighter roster of fighters to be brought over to the UFC and I see no reason why the move would not be a rousing success for both the fighters and the UFC.  Before I get into how the merger would help the fighters, here is a list of events by year the UFC has put on since 2000.

6 events in 2000
5 events in 2001
7 events in 2002
5 events in 2003
5  events in 2004
10 events in 2005 (coincides with the popularity of the Ultimate Fighter reality show)
18 events in 2006
19 events in 2007
20 events in 2008
20 events in 2009
24 events scheduled for 2010

By the time the UFC rolls into Montreal in December to finish their year, they will have already smashed their previous record of 20 events in a calendar year by 4.  A company who once was content with scheduling an event once every two months, now schedules two events every month. 

With the increase in events held every year the UFC has became the undisputed king of pay-per-view, taking the crown from professional wrestling.  With this increase in events, the UFC might be falling into the same oversaturation trap that has taken a chunk out of professional wrestling's numbers.  For example, the WWE has several shows every week on top of their monthly pay-per-view schedule.  The UFC also airs a weekly show, The Ultimate Fighter, alongside their SpikeTV Fight Night events, Ultimate Fighter Finale shows and pay-per-views.  The WWE and UFC also have to compete with upstart promotions, TNA and Strikeforce, who are looking to siphon off even more business.

The problem with the UFC isn't that it has to many events, the problem is that they don't have enough quality fighters to fill the additional slots at the events.  That problem would immediately be relieved by the infusion of the WEC's roster of lighter fighters to the UFC's talent pool.  The great thing about the merger is that both promotions are run by the parent company, Zuffa, so there would be no convoluted contract manuevering like there was when the UFC purchased Pride Fighting Championship. 

UFC 119 and WEC 51 were held a mere 5 days apart from one another.  How amazing would UFC 119 have been if the card looked like this.

Jose Aldo vs Manny Gamburyan for the Featherweight title
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs Frank Mir
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs Ryan Bader
Sean Sherk vs Evan Dunham
Matt Serra vs Chris Lytle

Jamie Varner vs Donald Cerrone
Melvin Guillard vs Jeremy Stephens
C.B. Dollaway vs Joe Doerksen
Miguel Torres vs Charlie Valencia
Chan Sung Jung vs George Roop
Mike Brown vs Cole Province

I think UFC 119's pay-per-view buyrate, which was around 275,000, would of at least jumped into the 400,000 - 500,000 range with the quality of the card.  If a handful of WEC fighters added to one subpar UFC event could improve their numbers that much, you would have to imagine the UFC would jump at the idea of merging.

In Part 2, I will discuss how the UFC and WEC fighters would benefit from a roster merger.

Baddest man on the planet?

Historically, the heavier weight class fighters have been considered to be the best fighters in the world.  I agree with that sentiment for the most part but I believe that there is a smaller fighter that has just as much claim to the top fighter spot as Brock Lesnar or Fedor Emelianenko has.  That man is WEC Featherweight Champion, Jose Aldo.

Aldo is primarily a stand-up fighter.  He uses his aggressive Muay Thai striking, especially flying knees and leg kicks, to overwhelm his opponents.  Aldo has pinpoint accuracy and lightning speed with all his strikes, earning him the nickname the "Brazilian Cobra."  His wrestling is also extremely underrated.  If his opponent is lucky enough to get him down to the canvas he still has to contend with Aldo's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, which he received from the Nogueira brothers.

Aldo has used these skills to tear through the WEC's 145lb. competition since his debut in 2008.  At the age of 24, Jose already has several career defining fights to his name.  It only took him 8 seconds, and a double flying knee, to dispatch of Cub Swanson.

Another highlight fight for Aldo was his destruction of former champion, Urijah Faber.  The California Kid was battered by kicks to his leg for 5 excruciating rounds and could barely walk out of the cage.  Aldo was able to keep the fight standing and brutalized Faber in his hometown.



Urijah's leg the morning after the fight.



Urijah's leg several days after the fight.



Last Thursday Jose defended his title against Manny Gamburyan with a fantastic display of striking.  After feeling Manny out in the first round, Aldo unleashed a furious ground assault that knocked Gamburyan out cold.  There are not many more threats left for Jose at Featherweight, besides Josh Grispi, and there are talks of him jumping up a weight class to take on the UFC's Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar.  I would love to see that fight but I would much rather see the WEC folded into the UFC so Jose Aldo and the WEC's army of lighter fighters get the exposure they deserve.