UFC & WEC Merger Brings Bantamweight and Featherweight to UFC

A UFC - WEC merger has been announced, which effectively brings in the entire roster of WEC fighters into the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The move may seem surprising, but actually makes perfect sense, and has been seemingly on its way for some time.

UFC and WEC Merger: Reasoning

The UFC and the WEC were both already owned and operated by Zuffa, with the WEC operating as a smaller, sister-organization. For years, the two had the same weight classes, and with the UFC being the bigger operation, it got the best fighters. But by the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, the WEC folded up its heavier divisions, and the stars from those weight classes moved to the UFC.

This included fighters such as middleweight Chael Sonnen, who recently gave Anderson Silva all he could handle and then some, and welterweight Carlos Condit, now coming off a spectacular knockout win over former title challenger Dan Hardy. This proved that the best of the WEC could more than hang with the big dogs in the UFC, and proved that it wasn't a second class organization.

The WEC had been left operating the lower weight divisions, bantamweight (135 lbs) and featherweight (145 lbs), along with lightweight (155 lbs), and the UFC only went as far down as lightweight. With most of the redundancy removed, why not just combine the two into one, larger organization? That's exactly what the UFC has done, bringing in WEC's bantamweight and featherweight fighters, and putting an end to the separate promotion.

UFC-WEC Merger: The Impact

One of the major questions remaining about the impact of the UFC and WEC merger is what happens not only to the whole crew of fighters - they all go to the UFC, particularly at 135 lbs and 145 lbs where an entire division needs to be stocked - but what happens to the champions?

The bantamweight and featherweight champions will be newly crowned UFC champions, retaining their WEC status. As for the lightweight champion, the winner of the pending WEC title bout between Ben Henderson and Anthony Pettis will square off against the winner of the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard UFC lightweight title bout in a unification match to declare one champion.

Final Thoughts on UFC and WEC Merger

There are a few other important notes to keep track of with the announced merger between the UFC and WEC. The Versus network will host four live UFC cards in 2011 on free television. This is good news for UFC fans looking to watch more live action for free.

But not so fast, because the WEC hosted about seven live events per year on Versus, and the UFC already had two on the network. That means a total of nine is now dropped down to four, even though there are more "UFC" events in the mix.

Another note is that you can expect the big names in the WEC, dynamic lower weight class fighters like Jose Aldo (featherweight champion), Urijah Faber (former featherweight champion) and Miguel Torres (former bantamweight champion) to become huge stars. With the instant increase in the millions to their audience, these guys will be household names, and the lower weight divisions will finally be getting the attention they deserve.

UFC WEC Merger Sources

UFC Adds Featherweight and Bantamweight Division
What UFC-WEC Merger Means for Fans