Monday, November 1, 2010

Five Reasons Why the UFC/WEC Merger is Going to Suck

Yeah, so last week Dana White announced that the UFC and the WEC would be merging.  Considering how much the WEC’s first pay-per-view event was scrubbed of its branding and run by all the usual UFC suspects, this merger should come as a surprise to only the deaf, dumb, blind and people stuck in mines for extended periods of time.  Of course everyone is stoked for the all the current WEC fighters, who will (hopefully) look forward to better paydays under the UFC banner and gain a ton more notoriety.  But there’s some serious downside to the union that everyone is overlooking – everyone but MMA Journalist, that is.  So here are five reasons why the UFC/WEC merger is going to suck:

  • The WEC is going to leave the Versus network for the greener pastures of pay-per-view, which will mean no more awesome free cards.  Also, everyone that purchases the next pay-per-view that features former WEC fighters will be retroactively charged for the free WEC events they’ve seen in the past.
  • Thanks to an agreement between Joe Silva and the Nevada State Athletic Commission, two bantamweight fighters will equal one heavyweight fighter for matchmaking purposes.  This means fighters like Miguel Torres and Brian Bowles may have to face Brock Lesnar simultaneously.
  • With the merging of the two organizations’ lightweight divisions and the inevitable number of sub-standard 155-pounders that will get cut, the question arises: where will Jamie Varner go now?
  • Lately, watching a WEC card is like being handed a glass of ice-cold Gatorade after a long, hard workout, whereas watching a UFC card is like being handed a glass of mud.  But how tasty is a glass of Gatorade mixed with mud? 
  • After swallowing a number of diminutive WEC fighters whole, Frank Mir was booted from his commentating gig and ordered by the Clark County Superior Court to stay away from the little guys.  But this merger means that Mir will now be in close proximity to such small fries as Damacio Page, Charlie Valencia and Scott Jorgensen.  AND FRANK MIR HUNGRY.