FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Leet's Take LEET: WEC on pay-per-view worth the money but stuck in a rough month

Apr 5, 2010 - 9:58:59 AM

By: Laramey Leet, MMATorch Columnist

On April 24 the WEC will debut on PPV. Zuffa will host WEC 48 two weeks after this weekend's UFC 112 event, and fans will have to shell out over a $100 if you want to catch the fights in HD. Are we still in a recession? How many buys does Zuffa really expect to get off of this card?

The UFC normally runs at $44.95 or $54.95 depending on your provider. The WEC will match the exact same price with their first PPV event. While opinions go every which way about the idea, the card is worth it. I just think that the WEC should have grown into the steeper price instead of going straight to the $44.95. I think that they should started the price around half of the what the UFC charges.

In my opinion the WEC always has good cards. There have only been a handful of times where I have been disappointed in their card results. The WEC is the more consistent promotion with events and excitement. So for the WEC to always be for free has been great for MMA fans and the sport. I think a lot of casual fans will be confused by the switch up from the free fights on Versus to the pricey PPV. Do not get me wrong, for me this card is most definitely worth the money.

Just take a look at the stacked card:

Main Card

-Featherweight Championship: Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber
-Lightweight Championship: Ben Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone
-Mike Brown vs. Manvel Gamburyan
-Anthony Njokuani vs. Shane Roller
-Antonio Banuelos vs. Scott Jorgensen

Not to mention, normally the WEC shows six to eight fights for free on Versus, so I would imagine that in the three hour time slot that they have on PPV we will be seeing most of the prelims as well. I can see three out of the five main card fights being quick and exciting fights, so you will probably get to see some of the preliminary fights as well. This is how they look:

Preliminary Card

-Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung
-Alex Karalexis vs. Anthony Pettis
-Brad Pickett vs. Demetrious Johnson
-Mackens Semerzier vs. Anthony Morrison
-Takeya Mizugaki vs. Rani Yahya
-Brandon Visher vs. Tyler Toner

So with 11 fights and plenty of top ten fighters on the card, you can expect an exciting event. To a casual fan it might not be worth the money to see the fights because they see no “big names” or nothing that really catches their eye. But to a true fan of MMA it is worth the money to see these fights. This has the potential to be the most exciting card this year.

While I have read many MMA forums and have seen plenty of people begging others to not buy the PPV and try to blackball Zuffa so they will not put on another WEC event on PPV, I really think that no matter how the PPV turns out in terms of buys the WEC will put on another PPV card.

Zuffa has said that they would like to put on one or two a year and I really think that they will stick to their word no matter how the event turns out. I think that the event will be so good that even if the buys are not great, Zuffa will know that the product is worth being on PPV and will continue to do so once or twice a year. The buys will not speak as highly as the show will. Of course money is what makes them do it, but they know that they will not be completely successful their first go around, so I would imagine this is just the beginning of a new WEC.

While many fans and bloggers seem to think that Zuffa is just being completely greedy, I don't think so. I think they are trying to further their brand. Zuffa is one of the pioneers of the sport, and has spent millions is furthering the sport. They just want their other brand to succeed as the UFC once did. But I do think that the timing and price of the event came at a terrible time.

My main objection to the WEC being on free TV has always been the amount of commercial breaks in the broadcast (same as Fight Nights on Spike). It really slows down the excitement of the card. While they need the commercials to pay for the bills, it really kills the speed of the card and the little things people want to see.

So with the WEC being on PPV what are we going to see? Is it going to be a mirror image of the UFC events? I like to see the fighters walk from the back to the cage, just to see how the fighters are looking before. Some people want to hear the walk out music the fighter chose. Looking backstage at the main event fighters warming up is always interesting to see as well. They do have many pros for a fan watching the WEC event on PPV.

One good thing about the PPV is that the WEC fighters will get paid more money. They do the exact same thing as every other fighter out there. Simply put, they go out and fight. And nine out of ten times they are more entertaining than the bigger fighters. They have more endurance and just as much skill, so for them to be getting paid more money is justified.

While the WEC has the big names and Champions in the card they are just lacking the star power that the UFC poses. The UFC hypes and pushes their champions to the extremes. Some fans rarely watch the WEC, even if they know that the league attains most of the best lighter weight fighters in the world. So to some fans they see names but do not recognize the talent that the fighter obtains. How many people really know about Jose Aldo? Is he the next “Anderson Silva?” (I think he might be!).

If you are a fan of MMA or just a casual fan you know B.J. Penn and Anderson Silva. Those are two of the most dominant men in their divisions and the UFC has spent millions hyping the guys into their larger than life personas. With those two fighters fighting this weekend, most fans will buy that PPV.

Then, following two weeks later, the normally free WEC will have a card for the same price. I think first off Zuffa put the card in a rough month. If Zuffa would have waited until they had an open month with just a free fight night and then had the WEC event on PPV it would have been easier for fans to purchase the fight. But nevertheless they waited until they had a stacked card at UFC 112 and then put on the WEC event two weeks later. This will make some fans have to choose which event they will purchase.

As you can tell I think that the WEC on PPV is good for some reasons and bad for others. What do you think about the WEC on PPV? You can either email me at LarLLeet@yahoo.com or leave a comment on MMATorch.com's reader comment area.

ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.