What Can The WEC Do To Improve Its Payscale?

[Marquis]

So i was reading a interview recently with Faber where he stated that the payscale difference between the UFC and the WEC isn't fair. Faber thinks a PPV route is the way to go to increase payment. The problem with that is do they have enough fighters with name value to carry a PPV? I honestly think outside of Faber they don't have any real recognizable fighters. Faber is the only one who i really see do some heavy PR. Pulver is a name, but hes most likely on his way out. As for Torres, i like him a lot, but i don't feel hes extremely popular. So basically i don't feel they can carry PPV sales. My suggestion, although maybe a bit drastic, would be to dissolve the WEC, and move the Featherweight division and bantamweight division to the UFC. The UFC sometimes has problems putting some good cards do to most other fighters being occupied. Adding these two divisions would give the UFC much more options and stacked cards when making a PPV. They can also hold more fight nights on Spike featuring the FW and BW. Although maybe too many classes would confuse a few, as long as it doesn't get like boxing, i think two more wouldn't hurt.

So what would you recommend Zuffa do? Make the WEC go PPV? Maybe a better TV deal with a better channel? My idea of dissolving the divisions and adding them to the UFC? Or your own suggestions.

 

[Mr. TM]

I really think Zuffa should add the UFC and the WEC together to form one enterprise, going from the lightest, to the heaviest divisions. I would then put them both under one banner, the UFC one for obvious reasons, and give the UFC a chance to throw up more pay per views, or perhaps more titles per pay per view.

 

[jmt225]

What I would do, and I know it would be a risk, but I would center an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter around Featherweight and Bantamweight fighters, so then the casual fan out there can see just how exciting these fighters and fights are. And come the Finale, I would have that be a WEC event on Spike TV, and then have WEC's very first pay-per-view a week or two later headlined by Faber vs. Mike Brown 3. And then if it's successful, which I personally think it would (just look at how popular these divisions are in boxing; I mean, Manny Pacquiao is currently the biggest draw in boxing for goodness sake), I move on from there. If not, I do what Marquis suggested and just dissolve the WEC, and move the Featherweight and Bantamweight divisions to the UFC.