You must understand this is not surprising. As much as I despite the UFC's contention "MMA isn't growing, only the UFC" there is a shred of truth to it. The arrogance of suggesting there is no music without the Beatles is almost too much to swallow, but that doesn't make the contention primae facie false.
The fact of the matter is that money inside the MMA industry is tight. Aside from a few key players, not nearly as many people as you would believe are actually making money. That includes the MMA fan base as well. For better or worse, a strong contingent of North Americans are decidedly blue collar. With a looming recession and increasingly more expensive ticket prices, promoters and organizations are going to have to do a siginificantly better job of advertising and marketing their products. But wait, isn't money tight at the top, too? It is, so you begin to see the dilemma. The MMA business can be a cannibalizing, self-defeating circle.
I've always been an advocate of watching live, local MMA rather than waiting for the UFC to come to town. But the truth is that if you've gone to any local shows, you've definitely seen empty coliseums. I've seen very successful local shows as well, but that's not the point. The point is that popularity of the UFC (or MMA) is causing a lot of would-be fight organizers into a market that simply does not have the economic capability of floating their operation. Some learn this the hard way, others get lucky. WCO is clearly the former, but it certainly wasn't the first and will not be the last.