WEC To Fold Light Heavyweight, Middleweight Divisions Into UFC
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Aug 30, 2008 at 8:00 am ET45 Comments
World Extreme Cagefighting will soon fold its light heavyweight and middleweight divisions into the UFC and will now feature just bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight classes.
The news was reported on Thursday by Yahoo! Sports.
Additionally, the WEC is considering pay-per-view events for 2009, possibly as early as May, and is also planning to hold more events next year than in 2008.
World Extreme Cagefighting’s next event, WEC 36 “Faber vs. Brown”, takes place on September 10th in Hollywood, Florida and is headlined by WEC featerweight champion Urijah Faber vs. Mike Brown.
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Man it will be cool to see Filho tare through the middleweights and then kill Silva.
Filho is the ****ing man !
I thought that they were friends, and said that they would not fight each other.
which silva? if its anderson no way! no one can beat silva i dont like him though i think the only person can beat him is cung le but depending how soon that would be because i know if anderson faces cung le 5 years ago he would get killed!
right now would be good fight idk who would win but i would root for cung!
if u think filho will beat more then half of the mw’s your a bit confussed. he will lose to sonnen or at least come close.i wish the wec would take up girl fights.im sad to hear that they want to charge a ppv fee to see wec i like it the way it is now.i was thinking that if elitexc goes under then affliction could pic up there rosters and the ufc would have a rival close to what pride was.affliction needs to fill up there rosters with good and reconizable fighters and that would do it.if they do female mma then they will offer a faccett of the mma world that the ufc dont.oh well, i buy all mma but i cant pay 30 or 40 dollars on a wec event when the only fighters that are worth watching are faber,miguel,and sometime filho and condit and they woudnt be on the same card but spread out.
anderson silva is gonna run both divisions anyway!!!!
You are all freakin insane if you think anyone outside the UFC could beat Anderson Silva. Wake up and study your MMA. I’m not saying he’s unbeatable, but who ever is going to beat him, hasn’t shown their face yet. The closest so far I see is GSP or an atomic bomb.
it doesn’t make any sense to make WEC ppv broadcasting. Unless the UFC is going under. Which they’re not. I have no problam watching it free on tv, but I’d never pay to watch WEC. Not even a Faber fight.
And Filho, if he’s off his booze and crack, could be very good in the UFC. Although he wouldn’t stand a chance in hell against Anderson Silva.
Fihlo needs to get himself in check and get down to 170.. I know he says its hard for him to make 185 but the dude is only 5′8 so i don’t see how that’s a viable statement on his part. Get his training straight and get with someone to teach him the proper art of weight cutting and he could be a force at 170lbs in the UFC.
This sounds great, however, PPV WEC? I’m not paying for that, even if it had every title on the line. Unless BJ Penn is the main event.
UFCfan and Travis, Ryo Chonan, destroyed Anderson Silva badly at PRIDE on Shockwave 2004. He is in the undercard coming up at UFC 88. Fight may not air. If it does watch this guy, his eyes are scary.
I think this is really unfortunate. UFC seems like that have a number in mind of fighters that they want to keep on the payroll. The cut guys every now and then. Now they’ll have a bunch more guys. Some of them are very good, but others will be let go. It’ll mean less chance of MMA fans seeing these guys on free TV. It should make those divisions in the UFC stronger. It just looks to me like it’ll help the UFC, but hurt the MMA fans. Oh well… They’re not in it for us, they’re in it for them.
Imo the LHW’s of the WEC stand zero chance against LHW’s of the UFC…
The MW division well that’s Anderson Silva’s domain soo best of luck with all that Paulo (they both have the same manager I believe and he said that they would fight each other)
Ppv well I dunno hey I bought Affliction “Banned” soo ya I probabky would but a WEC event (because they truly are the #2 promotion in the world imo)
So I just hope its not the $50 or some crazy sh!t like that, hell I paid like $80 to be on the floor @ Arco Arena to watch Faber v Pulver, I would pay 50 to see it on my tv tho
Fr 702,
You are right on about the LHW at the WEC. No one is ready for the show. Further I would say Rhino needs to drop down to Middle weight in order to have any future at all.
If the money is right Anderson and Paulo will tangle and America hasn’t seen Paulo’s best game yet. And the money will be right because no one else can give a show. Paulo should drop down to WW because he would not have to count on strength-just BJJ. Sonnen will be a squeaker because its his first fight back…He should win because Chael whines about submissions (Watch all the Horn fights).
I think Andersons fan club don’t watch anything outside the UFC .
If anyone has seen Filho in action they will tell you how good he is
Someone said Silva will dominate 205 ?
Come on, he only beat Irvin who is a bum and you telling me he will beat Griffin, Liddell, Shogun, Wandi & Machida i highly doubt it
I’m looking forward to seeing the shark back in action myself gonzo.
Spot on FR 702
No one is good enough in the WEC at LHW.
But Filho & Sonnen will be great additions to MW
Thx guys
I’m admiting that I enjoy Anderson Silva he is great bottom line, I have seen his losses I believe all of them and he has greatly improved since his PRIDE days he now protects himself from leg locks, ankle locks ect… And he doesn’t try to up kick while the other fighter is grounded (Rumble on the Rock 8? v Okami) one of the greatest ko’s I’ve ever seen is I believe in one of his Cage Rage matches he does a front leaping elbow and ko’s the hell out of the guy its awesome
The Horn Sonnen fight is typical of Sonnen he ALWAYS leaves his arm out there for someone to try and break, he left it out there for Paulo like 5 times and finally he got caught and said that he didn’t tap whatever, the sad thing is he probably was going to win probably by decsion if he didn’t gift wrap that armbar like he always does
I saw the Sonnen Filho fight and I did not see Sonnen tap. I have no idea what the ref was thinking by stopping that fight. I think he just assumed there would be a tap. The fight should not have been stopped at that point. If Filho breaks his arm, then he breaks his arm… Sonnen’s choice. If Fihlo did drop down to WW it would set up a tremendous fight with Condit. That would be a good fight to see.
I dunno Condit has a super sick armbar (Brock Larsen) and he actually tries to break his opponents arm… Could be entertaining.
Do you think Sonnen could drop the weight and not do harm to his cardio in the process?
I don’t know if Sonnen could make 170 i’m sure he was a LHW in the UFC ?
I think Sonnen & Filho should stay at MW as if Silva goes up then why should they go down.
Some said no one outside the UFC could beat Silva i beg to differ as i think the only man equipped to do this is The Hitman Martin Kampman.
Kampmann is an outstanding prospect at 25 and trains at one the best camps Xtreme Couture
Kampmann is sick his choke out of Drew Mcfedries was one of the best transfers I have seen ever…. Okami too has a chance to beat Silva, I think Hendo if he got another crack could do it but admitally the list is thin very thin imo
Yeah it is thin FR but some fans are ignorant in thinking Silva has no challengers at 185 he does as you say Okami & maybe Hendo could give him a run for his money.
I remember people saying GSP & Matt Hughes were unstoppable before both lost the WW belt at their respected times of loss
kampman is my fav in the mw division and god help him with his health because i would have loved to see him fight ace franklin but an injury ruined that.i think with some luck, some more exp., and a right state of mind kampman vs the spider could be a great fight
Are these the same fans that claim that Fedor is undefeated awwww probably shouldn’t go there people will start attacking me owell I said it again that he has 1 defeat on his record (and I have seen the RINGS fight against TK soo whatever, I do believe that Fedor is great btw)
I would like to see Kampmann v Bisbing/Leben winner for the next shot @ Silva ofcourse after he fights Cote and then Okami but ya never know after the BJ v GSP fight, GSP could move up to MW and ask for a title shot for another “superfight”
As UK resident i hope i will be seeing Bisping vs Kampmann headline in the UK early 2009 for a shot at the MW title (i see Kampmann winning via submission)
GSP vs Silva would be great and if can beat Penn who could stop him asking for a fight with Silva.
I’m a Fedor fan too
IMO he is the most dominate fighter in any weight class
so all of the wec mw and lhw are now apart of the ufc!?!??!!?
if so, im not really familiar with anyone…
can anybody name some potential contenders!?!!?
actually i dont think that lyoto will become champ a LHW so anderson silva will eventually dicide to become LHW champ and hes just to fast for anyone up there on that wieght class
so i hate to say because i dont like anderson silva that much but i bet he could beat forrest he just so fast he gonna hit him so fast hes not gonna be able to stop but forrest can take alot of hits so maybe he could last to round 2 3 if lucky.
hopfully he doesnt give up on lyoto and doesnt make a run for the title because i thnk he could
Sonnen is a whiny little woman when it comes to the submission . In the sportfight matchup with Horn he went off and complained…In the UFC matchup he complained(I never saw the first matchup I am sure he cried there too) I knew he would again last December when I ran across Napao on the way to Vegas I told him that Paulo needed to (sorry Kris this is my exact quote)”break that **** off” because of his past and all the ad hominum attacks he was making on Paulo. In the Joint that night it was a pro Sonnen crowd and he went out and tried to get a flash Ko on that weak slam(Its a title fight). As far as the “No” Dana was ringside and he heard him and he knew it a surrender.Check the papers in Vegas.The fact is the( and it has never properly been addressed) the no was directed at Paulo not the ref. It was a “No” like Uma and the master in Kill Bill 2. Chael was going to get permanently hurt by a man who wasn’t 100%. By the way I was at the back of the Hard Rock and I heard it too(VS doesn’t do it justice). Chael was scared that night and since then he has shot his mouth off about Paulo having problems and he embarassed that kid Baker for 3 rounds just to feed his ego. 3 people are do for a serious beating …Noons….Couture and Chael Sonnen.
woe woe woe gonzo, chonan never destroyed silva, not even feckin close, he was getting throttled until he caught silva with that heel hook, and you will never see that submission the way he did it ever again, chonan pulled a one in a million move out of his ass and got lucky, if you think he destroyed silva you need to watch the whole fight and not just the last 30 seconds
Del
I think that is harsh saying he pulled out a one in a million move out on Silva.
Chonan did out strike Silva in their fight and kept unleashing some fantastic leg kicks which lead to the submission.
Although the Takase fight which you might have got confused with, in that fight Takase did nothing of note until he applied a triangle
Paulo is not going to make the same mistake this time. I think there are no lhw ready for the UFC either. They just aren’t good enough. Marshall is a barroom brawler, Stann too green, and the champ Cantwell is good but is a mid carder in the UFC.
Stann looked puffed up when he beat Marshall. Rhino is too small for LHW. Gandulla was juicing when he challenged.The WEC cage size makes it more of a brawl. Rhino is solid . Cantwell need a season of TUF and some undercard fights…
it was a one in a million move, have you seen it before or since, i’ve been following for 6 years now and I haven’t, it was slick I will admit but one in a million
I have seen similar moves on a few lower level fight cards but not many granted
But to say he got lucky is an insult to Chonan’s ability he is a very talented fighter.
Dietrich,
VERY WELL SAID…..why did we not set up a MMAFRENZY fantasy football league?
I disagree about Rhino being solid. James Irvin treated him like a red-headed step-child and then Stan finished him off easily. Rhino is TOO small to be a LHw and might be too small to be a MW. If he plans to continue as a professional fighter, then he should get in better shape and find the weight division that he should be in… I mean… Irvin beat him!… Irvin, who took one shot in the face from Silva and then curled up in the middle of the ring even though he was loaded with pain killers.
KOuch,
Thank you… the fantasy league could be good. Heck like you said the Tshirts would be good too. I might even put out a line myself.:) I love this sport like everyone on this board and I would just like to find a place in it without fighting. the body has passed me by.:)
DolfanG,
Well the Irving thing is a cross to bear no doubt. I just like the guy what can I say. He reminds me of a boxer I used to dog sit for. Zuffa tried to run him off and he still fights.
Although 185 (170 maybe might be easier on him) he had to fight. The champ has to defend right K.J.?
We will see. The only worthy guys they have are Paulo and Sonnen
This well be F.U.C.K.ING COOL AS **** UFC,S WELL HAVE THE DEEPESET DIVISION EVER THEY HAVE IFL PRIDE WEC WOW THATS AMAZING
IF THIS DOSENT HAPPEN ILL BE PISSED
Dietrich,
Rhino reminds you of a boxer you used to dog sit for? Well, heck… he’s almost family then. I might have to start rooting for him myself. It’s the little things that bug the crap out of me… the way he lets his head flop from side to side when he’s walking toward his opponet for example… He’s not dodging anything, he’s just lettling his head flop from side to side… I’d rather see him with a look of intensity on his face and then move with purpose than just casualy walk around the ring. Again, though, he can’t compete with LHW fighters. I think he’d more than have his hands full with MW fighters.
I do think at 170 Rhino would be solid and a force to be dealt with. At that weight he would have enough strength to knock guys out and keep from getting knocked out like he did against Stan and Irvin.
DolfanG,
You just described “Lady” The boxer to a T with the description of Rhino’s current skill set.:)Its amazing where the comparisons come up some times…
Lady was never allowed to lift her paws up for most of her life and I was the only person she got to spar with.One of the reasons they are called Boxers. Anyway the look in Rhino’s eyes was the same one I saw in “Lady’s ” when she started to succumb to Cancer in her back legs. She still had a hill to deal with. For Rhino that hill was Stann (and Irvin ). Ihope Rhino cuts down because I don’t think we have seen his best game yet.
So the “boxer” was a canine… I’m sorry to hear about her demise. What’s next for Rhino?
Thanks…She was a great dog.As for Rhino I thought he was getting another WEC fight on 9/10. I know they let him have the fight in Palace? back in July as a sort of a comeback. I hope he gets the weight down to 170 because the WEC is tailor made for him and a fight with Condit would be fun.
Any info on weigh in times for next week?
Any info on the weigh ins or god forbid cancellation announcements…