WEC Planning Reality Show for 2009

MMA Weekly has the scoop:

"From the beginning it (a reality show) was something always in our plans," said WEC vice president Peter Dropick. "Versus, we're in discussions with Versus. We're looking right now at trying to figure out what we're going to do exactly.

"We've got a lot of ideas," he added. "We want to find ways similar to the UFC to showcase our fighters on a more consistent basis."

While still in the planning stages, expect to see a WEC reality show on Versus in 2009. "I don't know if we'll do exactly what the UFC did with The Ultimate Fighter, but we do have plans for a reality show of some nature," said Dropick. "Possibly soon and launching in 2009."

This is a fairly interesting development.  The importance of The Ultimate Fighter to the UFC's spectacular growth is common knowledge to those fans that closely follow MMA.  Whether or not a reality show can considerably elevate the stature of the WEC is questionable.  Hopefully, the powers that be will significantly differentiate this upcoming offering from TUF.  A clone of the UFC's reality mainstay likely wouldn't be successful for the WEC, and could further diminish TUF's own ratings.

Standout fighters, like Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres, could benefit greatly from the increased exposure a WEC reality show might afford.  This planned show also provides the WEC with an avenue for introducing female divisions into the promotion's structure if the Zuffa brain trust should decide to go in that direction. With some fans calling for Zuffa to include female fighters, a "Female TUF" has become a hot topic on this site and others.

What better way to kick off a new reality program than to have Gina Carano coaching aspiring mixed martial artists?

HT:  MMA Mania