WEC Cutting Divisions, Setting Up Anderson Silva vs Paulo Filho?

by Kid Nate on Aug 29, 2008 10:33 AM EDT in News Comment 12 comments

Kevin Iole's got the straight from Zuffa scoop on what's next for the UFC's little brother organization:

Zuffa’s decision to trim the WEC from six divisions (light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight) to four by folding its light heavyweight and middleweight divisions into the UFC, however, will make it that much harder to fill cards.

That’s particularly true given White’s plan to add pay-per-view shows to the WEC’s offerings, perhaps as early as May.

I'm fine with the WEC dropping the light heavies and middleweights but for opposite reasons. Their 205lb division is pretty void of talent, but their 185lb division has one fighter whose signing to the WEC instead of UFC was a head scratcher then and remains so today. I'm referring of course to Paulo Filho. When he was with PRIDE, the undefeated middleweight seemed like the best in the world. He's fallen on hard times since, barely beating a game Chael Sonnen and battling drug problems. Nevertheless, if he can turn it around, he could make an immediate impact on the UFC middleweight division.

Earlier MMA Weekly reported that Filho's manager Ed Soares (who also manages Anderson Silva) is saying that a Silva/Filho match is possible:

“If that’s the fight that the world wants to see, then I guess we’re going to have to sit back and talk about it,” Soares said. “I think that’s going to be a hard one to get across to both sides. They’re friends, they’ve been together. But at the end of the day, it’s a business, and sometimes you’ve gotta go in there, and you shake hands. They’ve been on each other for free in training. I can just tell you that it would really have to be something that makes sense for both guys.”

The bit about WEC trimming weight classes is long expected, but the scheme to run WEC PPV's comes right out of left field. With the UFC already close to saturating the PPV market and WEC only able to draw ratings and sell tickets with Uriah Faber on the card, it really makes me wonder how that will work. On the other hand, with the Japanese MMA scene threatening to dry up and blow away, maybe the WEC can scarf up more Japanese talent....not that anyone but hardcores will care.

0 recs | Comment 12 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I really hate the idea of the WEC moving to PPV instead of free. Right now it’s one of the best productions out there, great cards every time out, etc. But when you already have a UFC PPV every month, asking people to shell out more cash for the WEC events is going to have a big impact on viewership.

Not to mention that I’m kind of a cheapskate …

by Kierkegaard on Aug 29, 2008 11:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Is their Vs. partnership ending, or would there just be ‘Wreckage’ and then the PPV?

by Eugene Schelfaut on Aug 29, 2008 12:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

My understanding is the PPV would be in addition to their exisiting deal

by Luke Thomas on Aug 29, 2008 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Though White said he’s not sure how many shows the WEC will do next year, going to 10 would seem likely, given the fact he said it’s going to increase and he has a contract with the Versus cable network that he needs to fulfill.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Aug 29, 2008 12:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Maybe with PPV comes Video on Demand.

by Eugene Schelfaut on Aug 29, 2008 12:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Zuffa isn’t making any money on WEC and they want to change that

by smoogy on Aug 29, 2008 12:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I disagree

WEC was purchased simply to cut off other competitors from the Versus network. I think the point of the WEC on PPV is to clog up the MMA/PPV landscape more so than to actually try to make a run of it. It’s a classic move of a monopoly operator — flood the market until the competition dies out and then you can turn off the spigot, raise prices at will and rake it in.

by Kid Nate on Aug 29, 2008 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I said it in the last post about this, and I’ll say it again. They need to fill out the rosters with some Asian fighters and use the WEC to go into Japan. Lighter weights, excellent fighters, and no Dana as the figurehead. This would help expand their roster depth and help Zuffa get a foothold in the Japanese market.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Aug 29, 2008 12:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

that's the white hat interpretation of this move

I hope that’s what they do.

by Kid Nate on Aug 29, 2008 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That’s a good idea. Plus it would make an already exciting product even better. I too, hope this is the direction they’re headed.

by Estrada on Aug 29, 2008 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i don’t know if they will do that with Japan but……

Part of (but certainly not the only ) reason for the move over to ppv is tied into the moves into the Latino market. A sizeable portion of the folks they want to draw to the WEC ppv’s are latinos in america with the disposable income for PPV and arena tickets. This is something of the old boxing trick of having big ethnic draws to boost the gate. They are doing several things to boost the WEC south of the border…. they have the WEC on tv channel cadena tres, they have been invited down to several meixcan events to scout for talent, they are sending faber and garcia down in several weeks to do press, they may be looking to do a one off show in Mexico at some point……. they aren’t doing these things because they necessarily see huge $$$ in putting on shows in mexico but they are looking to build the infrastructure of the market and set up a pipeline of Mexican fighters to the US in the WEC, and translate that that to PPV buys in the US from latinos. This isn’t my take on what they are doing….this is actually the thinking they have behind at least one part of the move to PPV

Mike Goldberg on robnashville:
"His analysis is so analytical"

by robnashville on Aug 29, 2008 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Very good point. The Mexican fanbase is highly coveted. Look at not only boxing and mma, but NFL, MLB and NBA. For years those leagues have been cultivating the Mexican population by holding games down there, marketing to them and even possibly expanding there.

I was just speculating that it would be an easier way to get into the Japanese market.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

by BJJDenver on Aug 29, 2008 8:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs