The WEC Failure: Why Can't the UFC's Sister Promotion Attract Fans?

Your article hit it right on the head.

However the WEC missed out on one breakout star by a bit… Chael Sonnen. Where was the ultimate heel when he was fighting for the WEC?

The WEC needs characters. The majority of their fighter put on great fights but there is so little shit talking that it’s hard to get excited by the fights unless you’re a hardcore fan that is simply interested in the sport/competition of the fights.

I’m not even sure a version of TUF would work for the WEC… unless they were to pair Faber and Torres as opposing coaches. Their (fading) star power would still bring in fans and both guys can talk some smack. A WEC show headlines by that fight with the winning contestants under it would put the WEC back in the spotlight. Anything short of that would fail.

And create a Flyweight division. That way, WEC will unambiguously house the best fighters in the world in their respective weight classes. I think that to some extent having a lightweight division full of journeyman and prospects while having the best in the world at bantam and featherweight confuses some newer fans into thinking the whole thing is some kind of minor-league affiliate of the UFC. Of course, Faber and Torres hitting turbulence is a major issue for them, but in Faber’s case, being replaced by a fighter who many consider the next Bruce Lee is not an awful thing. They’re not going anywhere…and before long, I suspect that average fans will tune in to see Aldo defending 145, Faber 135, and JB 125. If not, they’ll still have the critical acclaim of hardcore fans, which is not a bad thing to have considering the deep pockets of Zuffa.

The WEC is the closest thing we have in the MMA world to pure sport. The matchmaking makes sense and fans are treated to the best guys in the promotion doing battle on a regular basis

Which is why it’s my favorite! It’s a shame that other people just aren’t into it.

I understand that Versus is in many more homes then Showtime is but how many people actually know that they have Versus?

When I talk to my friends that are casual MMA fans(UFC) and tell them about WEC and Versus none of them even know if they have Versus.

If you have Versus it is probably included in a sports package that you bought to insure you have ESPN News and ESPNU without knowing you have Versus. If you have Showtime you paid for it specifically and know it is there.

While Versus has gotten WEC to a certain level they now may be holding them back.
Like a fighter who has out grown their regional promotion it is time for WEC to take the next step.

I think honestly the biggest issue for the WEC and the American market would fall into your 3rd choice.

We have been trained to look at larger athletes as more talented and more enjoyable to watch regardless of the sport with only really Boxing standing out as an anomaly at this point. Even Boxing though was dominated by the bigger is better idea really until the fall of Tyson and the rise of fighters like Lewis and the Klitschko brothers who have simply turned fans off of the HWs and onto the lighter (and much more entertaining) divisions.

Zuffa needs to begin a extensive ‘training’ period for fans imo if they truely want the WEC to be anything more than a company that is well regarded by hardcore fans while almost completely ignored by anyone else. Why not host a special season of TUF that leads into the WEC for example? Why not actually advertise WEC events on UFC shows? The talent is there to keep fans interested if they actually promoted the company.

Past that, they really need to spread the love outside of Versus. Versus has done a ton for the WEC and are trying to do more for MMA in general, but they aren’t going to garner as much attention as say a home on Spike could do simply because it isn’t carried by all cable companies. Even when it is, it is usually hidden back in the 500 channels and only diehard sport fans find it. Versus just grabbed some UFC action, perhaps we could see Spike grab some WEC as well.

Regardless of the reasons, it’s a damn shame they don’t get more love. I can count on one hand the number of WEC fights that I truely wasn’t entertained by. I can’t even begin to count the number that had me on the edge of my seat though.

Look at boxing, the two most popular fighters both weigh in at under 150 pounds.

So I’ll just add a few comments

The WEC is a failure. We WEC fans – and I am a big fan of the fighters and the product – have to admit it. If we truly are fans than we can’t hold onto them like their are favorite indie band. These guys need and deserve exposure.

I’ve said it before, the biggest mistake Dana ever made was not immediately folding the WEC featherweight belt into the UFC. Does anyone doubt that Uriah Faber wouldn’t have been a star, maybe on the level of BJ Penn or even GSP. According to MMAPayout, title matches get 300,0000 more buys than non-title. That is an extra 2.5 million ppv sales lost by the UFC. That is a headliner during last winter slowdown that was not available.

Now who knows what the deal was when the WEC was bought, Maybe there was some sort of agreement that they had to keep the lower weight classes and couldn’t be folded for a number of years. But if there is nothing keeping Zuffa from merging the two and Urijah happens to win the bantamweight belt, I can’t think he’ll make the same mistake twice.
A bantam and featherweight Ultimate FIghter, Urijah Faber as bantamweight champ, and Clay Guida dropping down to feather would all make them pretty viable divisions in the UFC.

           add some more weight divisions, like the WEC’s featherweight. This will add more fights to slow building UFC fights like the one in Austin. This will give the WEC fighters the name and the recognition, as well as the pay.
          That way Zuffa can have the UFC deep in talent. In regards to their versus deal, they should keep it. More exposure means more money and quicker build up for fighters. They have a lot of fighter that can be hyped a lot more if they were in the UFC, in this case Ben Henderson, Anthony Pettis ect.
         I also think Zuffa should create another fighting organization, something small for fighter whom need a tune up fight, or fighters coming in. This will be an organization compressed of fading talent, and up and comers. Once they prove that they are ready, move them to the UFC. That way there will be no issues with contracts and fighters that are old like the dean of mean among others can get a tune up fight. These wells keep talent and investments in the ufc, instead of releasing them to another promotion.
        This hypothetical new organization ran by Zuffa would be rather exiting, grab some new talent. Give fading fighters a new chance to redeem themselves and work their way up to the elites. This would be rather exciting if they did, look at the next shark fights card and Strikeforce. They are compressed with released UFC fighters whom could be still fighting for Zuffa (if they wanted to) and put on great fights. It’s a win win situation for the fans and Zuffa. Theoretical matches like the one on the next shark fights cards as well as Marshall vs. Irvin ect.

Absolutely correct here. There are events like WEC 50 or the Shalorus vs Varner WEC event that were awesome but absolutely fell under the radar. Also, and this is just my opinion, but I feel that there is more buzz coming from Strikeforce: Houston than WEC 50 even though they happened within the same week. Of course, Strikeforce was more recent, but where is the talk of a potential Cruz vs Jorgensen fight and other talking points that should have come from WEC 50?
As far as what could be done, I just don’t many interviews or much promotional material for WEC events and their fighters. The only big rivalries that I can think of in the current WEC are Cerrone vs Varner.
I really don’t think it has that much to do with these fighters being a smaller weight class, but that is just my opinion. I do feel that just getting to know these fighters outside of the cage really helps. There are heels like Jamie Varner in the WEC, but I can’t really think of too many other heels in the WEC.

I want would like them to fold into the ufc. I would love to see the undercard featuring stars like Mike Brown, The cowboy Cerrone, Dominick Cruz, Ben Henderson, The Korean Zombie, Garcia, Scott Jorgensen and Kamal Shalorus plus more. Man this will be some stacked cards. Even the undercards would be epic. If they did this Stacking UFN in Austin would have not been a problem.

Epic cards if the did
I would like them to fold into the ufc. I would love to see the undercard featuring stars like Mike Brown, The cowboy Cerrone, Dominick Cruz, Ben Henderson, The Korean Zombie, Garcia, Scott Jorgensen and Kamal Shalorus plus more. Man this will be some stacked cards. Even the undercards would be epic. If they did this Stacking UFN in Austin would have not been a problem.

The WEC on Versus thing has been mentioned many times so there’s no point in bringing that up again. I’m probably being naive here but I think their low viewership may be partly due to how they present themselves. Lets start with brand name itself. World Extreme Cagefighting. Does the name Extreme need to be there? It just seems unnecessary to use “Extreme” but I will give them credit for spelling “Extreme” properly and not spelling it like “Xtreme”. How about “World Cagefighting Championships” or some variant. Look at that WEC logo for the Versus network with the tattoo on the dude’s back. What kind of crowd is that supposed to attract? The WEC highlight show, WEC WRECKAGE, I’m not a fan of that name. A casual fan might not have any idea of what that show is supposed to be about. Maybe if they changed the way they marketed themselves they might open themselves up to a larger share of their target demographic.

Here we go again seriously why are people so obssessed with trying to bury the only other mma org aside from the UFC that is actually suceeding?. I’ve been hearing about how the WEC is a failure for years and at the end of the day they are still around putting on the best shows in the sport.

If the WEC is a failure then who aside from the UFC is succeeding?, because they actually make money and not losing it on bad contracts. They get steady ratings nothing great but comparitably for Versus they do just fine and they have gotten great ratings on supershows. Not to mention they are the only other MMA org to actually do well on ppv something even Pride couldn’t do.

Yet here we are again, with the same old nonsense about how bad things are going on with the company. Who provides the best talent and fights at the lighterweights while being in the black and having a longterm business strategy. Five years from now the WEC will still be here and sadly so will all the people still claiming that it’s a failure it’s a broken record that is simply not true.

Do me a favor next time do an article on these mma orgs that are actually failing to make money and are stuck with bad tv and fighter contracts because there are plenty of those around.

People want to see the big boys battle it out.

Not sure why this is so hard to understand.

I think it’s a good idea what WEC and UFC had going for WEC 48. I think the best way to save this promotion is to merge the fighters into the UFC even if it means the UFC brings bantams and feathers into the organization for their own weight classes. the light weights make an easy jump into the already existing roster, and the lower classes just get added and I guarantee those talent fighters will get fame and more exposure with the UFC name under them. After all, it does seem like the UFC wants a monopoly anyway so why not start with a merge?

1.WEC could only create 1 draw and that’s Urijah Faber.
He brings ratings and he sells Tickets in Sacramento.
Beyond that there’s nobody.
Aldo could be the one.

2.ZUFFA hasn’t put too much Promotion into WEC Events besides the PPV and Faber.
Faber is basically the only fighter who gets regular face time on UFC Events.

3.Versus, even though it’s available to 70mil., is still a rarely watched channel

more. I follow MMA, at least I try to but yet I couldn’t tell you when the next WEC card or when the last one was.

They need to use the UFC shows to advertise the WEC shows.

Whenever I tune into versus and see WEC, it is a recap of fights from a while ago, some as far back as over a year.

…..but I think ZUFFA is so power hungry w/ the UFC, that they’re basically hating on themselves. Like no no WEC, you guys stay down there, let you’re big brother have all the sporlight. Aldo/Faber, or hell even Cruz/Benevidez could easily have been the MMA equivalent to Boxings “Chiquita” Gonzalez vs Michael Carbajal. But I get the feeling ZUFFAs puts only so much energy into the WEC and their shows. These are my suggestions, mind you I have no experience on this topic, its only my opinion. Get the WEC off the VS channel, put them on Spike along w/ TUF. W/ that kind of exposure, ratings and money goes up, thus they can pay their fighters more and even lure FW, BW and possibly FlyW talent to them. Give them countdowns, Q&As at weigh ins, large arenas, hell even a slightly bigger octagon, and call it that, not a cage. Simply using that term brings a “UFC” association to the equation and thus fans will get the idea this is some sort of UFC “branch”, which it kinda is.

I might be one of the few (comparison to ufc) but I will buy all/any PPV’s the WEC puts together until I watch a card that isn’t great. They need to switch channels, get more involved with thr UFC so ppl realize they are connected and maybe do some lead up shows and countdowns. All that would help but I think a merger will ultimately be needed.