Dana announces today merger of UFC and WEC

[ace3g]

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/10/28/1779797/dana-white-to-announce-ufc-merger-with-the-wec

[dbreiden83080]

Cool no shock.. Sales for the WEC have been poor lately.

Aldo at 155, is what needs to happen soon..

[polandprzem]

Wow

But the most intriguing will be 155 division now, and ofcourse Aldo going division up will be easier now.

Wow

[djohn14]

Hell Yeah!

[ace3g]

Yeah, the winner of Pettis/Henderson on December 16th (http://mmafans.net/topic/8386013/1/#new) will hopefully be one of the top contenders for the UFC LW belt in 2011

[ace3g]

"The winner of Ben Henderson's [Dec. 16 title defense against Anthony Pettis] will automatically face the winner of Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard," said White.

All WEC talent will be retained, White said, including the 135- and 145-pound champions. WEC featherweight titleholder Jose Aldo will be recognized as the new UFC champion, and the same will go for the winner of Dominick Cruz's title defense against Scott Jorgensen at the promotion's final event, WEC 53, in December.

White also confirmed that Aldo will defend his new UFC title on Jan. 1 at UFC 125 "Resolution," though his opponent was still not set in stone.

But what about the WEC lightweights? The UFC already has its own 155-pound title and a deep stable of fighters to go with it. White said he intends to fold all the WEC lightweights into the UFC talent pool, unifying the two belts with a miniature tournament of sorts.

http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=5737833&campaign=rss&source=twitter&ex_cid=Twitter_espn_5737833

[Stringer_Bell]

I like it! More title fights, more TV fights, and lots of interesting match-ups.

Cerrone vs Sotiropolous/Florian
Pettis vs Diego
Aldo vs Anyone
Henderson vs Anyone

I say at the end of the year they start the Featherweight/Banthamweight TUF season w/ Uriajah having a fight or two and Miguel Torres having a fight or two so the public know them. This could be awesome!

[djohn14]

I say at the end of the year they start the Featherweight/Banthamweight TUF season w/ Uriajah having a fight or two and Miguel Torres having a fight or two so the public know them. This could be awesome!

So Im confused. Do you want them to fight on the show? Or to be the coaches?

[Stringer_Bell]

So Im confused. Do you want them to fight on the show? Or to be the coaches?

Coaches. I think between NOW and July (when they'd film for a Late 2011 premiere), if both guys had 2 fights they'd get good ratings and people would be more excited to see the smaller fighters because they don't gas as fast and always let the fists fly.

[djohn14]

Coaches. I think between NOW and July (when they'd film for a Late 2011 premiere), if both guys had 2 fights they'd get good ratings and people would be more excited to see the smaller fighters because they don't gas as fast and always let the fists fly.

Ok good lol I was like whaaaaaa? lol. But Yeah that would be nice. Im pretty excited for this merger. It just brings about a lot of new possibilities

[polandprzem]

I think UFC will want to do TUF with lighter classes as soon as possible

[dbreiden83080]

It was funny listening to Dana sift through all the lies about "this was all a building process and was eventually gonna happen". While that may be true the time-line got put into hyper drive as WEC sales the last few events were horrible. The Aldo/Manny fight they were giving tickets away and ratings were poor..

[strosFan2]

I think UFC will want to do TUF with lighter classes as soon as possible

There was rumors of Urijah Faber being a coach, but i don't know who the other coach would be...