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Top 5 Winners From UFC and WEC Merger | 5thRound.com – UFC News, Strikeforce and MMA News, UFC 121 Play-by-Play Results

Top 5 Winners From UFC and WEC Merger
Written by Tom Ngo
October 29th, 2010
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After UFC president Dana White announced they would absorb the WEC to formulate one powerhouse promotion, most immediately started to think how the monumental move would benefit them. While there are plenty of peeps sitting pretty after Thursday’s news, 5thRound has compiled a Top 5 list of the merger’s biggest winners.

Zuffa, LLC – Although they terminated one of their business units to create one behemoth of an MMA banner, they have also eliminated confusion among their ever-growing fan base. Not having to explain to rookie Octagon fans that ‘the WEC is pretty much the UFC, but not really,’ should do wonders in creating greater brand recognition.

It wasn’t a coincidence that a WEC logo wasn’t spotted anywhere in their only pay-per-view broadcast. The card was actually entitled, “UFC Presents: Aldo vs. Faber.”

Furthermore, despite not adding any fighters to their total talent pool, the merger has many feeling Zuffa’s stranglehold on the sport has increased drastically with the move.

WEC Fighters, Specifically Lightweight Elite - White acknowledged during yesterday’s conference call that WEC athletes should be getting pay raises now that they have “made it” to the big leagues. The gravy train doesn’t stop there, as fighters appearing in UFC shows – particularly on the televised portion – receive much larger sponsorship dollars than when competing for other organizations.

In addition to these perks, those sitting atop the WEC’s 155-pound food chain have shortened their UFC title path. Reigning champ Ben Henderson or WEC 53 challenger Anthony Pettis will leapfrog numerous UFC lightweights after White promised the winner would advance to unify the UFC title with the victor of the UFC 125 fight between champ Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

It’s highly unlikely either Henderson or Pettis would have immediately been fed to the king in their UFC debut if this alliance wouldn’t have occurred.

Versus Network – Although White claimed Versus was happy with the ratings past WEC events garnered, replacing them with UFC promotions will inflate their Nielsen ratings significantly. Despite losing out on a handful of WEC shows in exchange for only four UFC events, Versus brass couldn’t be happier as it appears they are strengthening their relationship with the UFC, while Spike TV – the Ultimate Fighting Championships original freebie home – has been treading water.

Brittney Palmer – The former WEC ring girl will now be towing her numbered cards around with Arianny Celeste. Rachelle Leah, the UFC’s OG Queen Bee, posed nude in the November 2009 issue Playboy and the reigning princess is in the November 2010 edition.

Can Palmer bump Chandella Powell to become the company’s #2 hottie, then parlay that onto the pages of Playboy next November to complete the trifecta? The opportunity is certainly there.

MMA Fans – Now that all of the world’s best fighters are under the same banner – less a handful of Strikeforce and overseas talent – enthusiasts can expect to consistently see action-packed fight cards from top to bottom. The days of complaining over insignificant preliminary bouts should be long gone with the talent they now have access to.

[The8thPlague]

MMA Fans – enthusiasts can expect to consistently see action-packed fight cards from top to bottom. The days of complaining over insignificant preliminary bouts should be long gone with the talent they now have access to.

Ah that makes me feel good.
That's the part I like best.

[pantomime horse]

Sweet. I'm really happy for the WEC fighters.

[MMAtt]

What most excites me here is to see where these WECers rank amongst the UFCers, are they legit MMAists or are they just good because they are in a lesser organization

[FE_EatsChildren]

man, this is pretty damn bad ass and it's about damn time!!

[GSPvsSILVA2012]

The title unification bout is gonna be very exciting

[LefthookStcrook]

Good times to be an MMA fan ladies and gentleman.

Zuffa has soo many ridiculous match ups that they can throw at us randomly its awsome.

Not trying to sound like a "Zuffa nut hugger" or anything, but it kinda makes you wonder why Zuffa doesnt just fork over like 4-8 mill and pick up/rob the other orgs for their good fighters.

They'd have to put their ego aside of course for certain fighters(Hendo,Werdum,AA,Barnett,Fedor among others) but I think it would be worth it to pick up the 15-25 good fighers out there and just have an absolute strangle hold on the sport.

You don't think any one of the fighters that have bad beef with Dana/Zuffa wouldn't re-sign it Dana straight up said "Hey man, water under the bridge. Heres what you were previously making/what you previously asked for"? Fighters fight for money afterall, its what pays the bills and puts food on the table.

I know im gonna get bashed cuz everyone hates the idea of a monopoly. But I like the idea of ALL the good fighters being under one roof, the wonder of "who could beat who" can be answered. Think about no more p4p debates and somewhat more legit rankings. There would be enough talent to have weight divisions every 10 pounds or so, great for guys like Franklin,Wandy,Diaz, all the small HW's and others.

Just more fighters, more talent, more champions,more free cards, more PPVs, basically more fights all together. All for what? A few mill? That your guarenteed to get back? Sounds worth it to me, but im high.

rip away before i come down and dont wanna write lol

[LethalStriker]

I can definitely see guys like Tyson Griffin and Clay Guida dropping down to 145 now which will help the overall depth of that division.

[MrSpanky]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Frankie Edgar move down to 145. He could hold two belts at 155 and 145 by the end of next year.

[IceCold48]

what is so great about this? we get less free shows and more exciting fighters delegated to the undercard.