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Oct 10, 2008 - 10:52:04 PM
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
WEC dropping the Middleweight division is a mistake. Dropping the Light Heavyweight division is a huge mistake. First, this is MMA and there's no such thing as having too many fighters. Guys only fight every 3 or 4 months so there's no reason to be concerned with having too many fighters under contract. While it's true that WEC only runs cards every few months or so they often have several fights on each card. With only 4 weight divisions they run the risk of giving spots on the card to guys who don't deserve it. It's the same reason that The Ultimate Fighter show is better when they have 2 different weight classes. Two deserving Middleweight fighters may not get a spot on the card while two less deserving Bantamweight fighters do.

The thought process behind eliminating these two weight classes from WEC is that this will allow them to focus more on the lighter divisions. That sounds good but now there's one less place for up and coming heavier fighters to compete at. UFC usually doesn't sign guys that only have a little experience. WEC is a good place for guys to come to and get some seasoning. They get to fight on television and usually in larger arenas then they're used to.

I always looked at the 205, 185, 175, and 155 pound weight classes in WEC as basically a farm system for UFC. And I don't mean that as an insult to the champions at those respective weight classes but UFC is considered the big leagues. They're the best of the best usually and when you think of match-ups involving the champions from each weight class you would have to give the UFC champions the nod almost every time. WEC is like the AAA farm club for the UFC major league team. It's where younger fighters can go and get ready for the bigs. This doesn't really apply to the 135 and 145 pounders but for the other classes it does. The perception is that WEC is the younger brother of UFC.

There's nothing wrong with using WEC as both a staging ground for the heavier fighters and the premiere destination for the lighter fighters. I would even suggest that UFC show some WEC title fights on their pay-per-views, at least the 135 and 145 pound ones. I can understand not wanting to show the title fights of belts that already exist in UFC but there isn't a Bantamweight or Featherweight division in UFC. Those bouts could be shown in an attempt to increase interest in WEC.

How much time does WEC need in order to focus on the lighter divisions? It's not like they're putting on shows every week. They're usually putting on a card every 2 months. And guys typically fight on every other card so that takes away a certain amount of the work needed to set a fight card. There should be a couple of title fights every card and you need to budget approximately 35 minutes for each one. WEC shows are only 2 hours long so I don't see the disconnect. It doesn't make business sense to eliminate weight divisions that are popular. I hope this works out for WEC, but I have my doubts.

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