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.
The Featherweight and Bantamweight champs at the end of the year will be crowned the first-ever UFC title holder in that weight class.
Pretty straight forward here, Jose Aldo is now the UFC featherweight champion and already has his first UFC title defense scheduled for UFC 125. The first post merger card will happen on New Year’s Day and Aldo will face rising featherweight Josh Grispi for the UFC featherweight championship.
The WEC bantamweight title will be defended December 16, between current champ Dominick Cruz and the challenger Scott Jorgensen. The winner of the fight will then become the UFC Bantamweight champion and defend that belt sometime in 2011.
The WEC lightweight champion at year’s end will face off against the UFC lightweight champion to unify the title.
The WEC lightweight belt will be up for grabs on December 16, at WEC 53 when Ben Henderson faces Anthony Pettis. The winner will be the WEC champ going into the merger and await a unification bout between the UFC lightweight champ.
The UFC lightweight champ, Frankie Edgar is set to face the only man to defeat him, Gray Maynard at UFC 125 on January 1, 2011. The winner will bring his UFC belt with him to a fight against the WEC champion to unify the belt, which means the winner gets both belts and will be considered the UFC lightweight champion.
Every single WEC employee will come over in the merger.
With the economy and job market how it is right now this is great news. Typically a merger means someone is losing their job, but not in this situation.
The UFC signed a new TV deal with the Versus network for a total of four events in 2011.
At first glance this sounds great, but when you actually look into what is really happening here it’s more like a net lose. At the end of 2010 the WEC will have put on eight events that appeared on Versus, add in the two events the UFC held on Versus and the network had 10 free shows in 2010. With the merger and new TV deal fans will only get four shows, a loss of six free shows in 2011 on Versus.
The loss of six shows on Versus Network wasn’t the choice of the UFC, but actually the most their current deal with Spike TV would allow them to do. That deal with Spike TV is set to end at the end of 2011 and factor in the new deal with Versus Network which will also expire at the end of 2011, fans can only hope that 2012 will bring them more free fights.
Pay Per View cards will benefit greatly by the Merger
Fans love to complain about the fight cards and how they are not worth the PPV cost. The merger will strengthen the PPV cards by adding more title fights and more action packed fights with the lighter weight classes. The haters will continue to hate, but the rest will be treated to deeper and more action packed fight cards.
The cry of a monopoly….
The definition of a monopoly is a situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service.
The complaint here is that with the merger, the UFC now owns all or nearly all of the MMA market. The reality is that they don’t own any more than they did before the merger because both were already owned by the same company in ZUFFA. Furthermore ask promotions like Strikeforce, Bellator, Maximum Fighting Championship or the Rage in the Cage if the merger really changes anything for them.
The WEC fighters should finally get paid
The WEC fighters should finally get the pay raise that they have asked for and definitely deserve. Contract status and what the UFC does with the current WEC contract is still unknown, but Dana White did say they would be paid better when asked on Thursday.
If seven weight classes aren’t enough….
Dana White mentioned that along with the addition of the Bantamweight (135lbs.) and Featherweight (145lbs.) the UFC would also look at adding a Flyweight division (125lbs.) at some point.
The Ultimate Fighter with Bantanweight or Featherweight contestants
The Merger could bring a big shot in the arm for the reality series “The Ultimate Fighter”, should the show do a season with either Bantanweight or Featherweight. The next season (its 13th) is already in the works but season 14 could potentially have Bantanweight, Featherweight or even both.
People will always try to find the bad side of something but the long awaited UFC/WEC merger is a good thing for both the fighters and the fans.
A good list of what the merger means. I hadn’t thought about the impact on the Ultimate Fighter, but I believe your right it could mean a boost in ratings if they feature some of the lighter fighters.