Should WEC fold into UFC?
Go to a local mall on the weekend and, for kicks, randomly ask 10 people if they have ever heard…
Go to a local mall on the weekend and, for kicks, randomly ask 10 people if they have ever heard of the WEC.
I suspect if you asked in the Southeast, you’d have a number of people who believe it’s a football conference whose commissioner is upset it doesn’t get an automatic Bowl Championship Series bid.
There might be plenty who think it’s part of another Obama administration proposal to bail out the financial system.
And I suspect others might guess that it’s the junior college a hike down the highway.
The answer, though, may surprise you. The WEC – World Extreme Cagefighting – is a mixed martial arts promotional company owned by Zuffa, the same folks who have built the Ultimate Fighting Championship into a burgeoning sports power.
And while UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have made few mistakes in their 8½ years in their jobs, one of the most grievous has been not folding the WEC into the UFC.
Every day that the WEC is its own separate entity is another that goes by without the majority of the UFC’s massive fan base realizing Miguel Torres’ greatness.
Torres is, for my money, the finest pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. He’ll defend his WEC bantamweight title against Brian Bowles on Aug. 9 in Las Vegas in a card that will be nationally televised on the cable channel Versus.
And the best fighter deserves the biggest stage, which is why Torres belongs in the UFC.
The WEC has three weight classes, at 135, 145 and 155 pounds. The UFC starts at 155 and includes 170, 185, 205 and heavyweight.
By folding the WEC into the UFC, White and Fertitta would be adding only two weight classes, since there are 155-pounders in both, and would significantly add to the talent pool.