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« | Home | »

WEC sends a message to the rest of its roster…

By Zach Arnold | November 3, 2009

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…and that message is that Urijah Faber is our business ace and you’re not.

The match between Jamie Varner and Ben Henderson for the Lightweight title, which had been discussed for a while to take place in Arizona, ends up getting booked in Sacramento at Arco Arena on January 10th with Urijah Faber in the semi-main event slot against Raphael Assuncao.

Business is business and Faber’s the one major star in the company, so they will run Sacramento. However, Arizona should not be that hard of a place to market a good fight between two locals. Hell, WEC ran Albuquerque and San Antonio but they can’t run Arizona where a ton of MMA fighters are?

Running in Sacramento with Faber should be shooting fish in a barrel, but it’s interesting how the company is picking its spots in turns of new markets to run shows at or not run shows at.

Topics: Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

22 Responses to “WEC sends a message to the rest of its roster…”

  1. Alan Conceicao says:

    Between livegate, merch, and the healthy amount Versus pays them per show, if they simply cut expenses, they can probably make money or at least break even. Of course, “cost cutting” is the same as “putting on crappier fights” as far as the WEC is concerned.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    MERGER!! MERGER!! MERGER!!

    Imagine what type of business the UFC could do with Faber on a card…. It would be another solid fighter who can sell PPV’s. Put that along with a few champions, and the UFC has their main event problems solved.

  3. Oops! says:

    If a merger would happen do you think there is a good chance of a weekly MMA Show? or would that be to much MMA.

    Miguel Torres would also sell PPV’s as well.

  4. I’ve been saying it for a long time – the WEC has put far too much weight behind Faber. Torres has also gotten a push but the WEC is still far too reliant upon Faber to generate interest in fights.

    Faber could lose to Assuncao, and that would make three loses in five fights, with the two victories coming against an overmatched Jens Pulver.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    If the WEC talent were to merge into the UFC, there would either be a weekly show or an additional set of shows on Network TV. Without one of those, the merger would never happen.

  6. Razorstorm says:

    I cant see a merger happening! Would probably be too much MMA for anyone to handle lol

  7. jj says:

    Maybe they’re assuming Varner is going to pull out at the last minute claiming some phantom injury and they don’t want to run a show in AZ without Varner?

  8. dyno says:

    Hey Zach, long time reader/fan dating back to your old Puroresu site. Anyways, I know you are privy to information most fans never hear of. But, for me, it was the whiner Varner who was begging for the show to be done in AZ after Henderson won the title. I hadn’t heard AZ being on the WEC’s radar to do a show in other than “In the future we’d like to do shows in…” I know last year Phoenix almost hosted a UFC event and that fell through in the date planning stages.
    AZ is a solid MMA market as a whole.
    The Rage in the Cage events sometimes garner 5000 fans in attendance, and the EVo-MMA show drew pretty well too, with that being said it would be a financially viable choice for a Zuffa event. With all that being said, I have no prob with the WEC going to Sacto for a ButtChin fight over Varner’s whining for a AZ event ( the only state where he has a slight chance of being cheered for at.)

    As for the “Merger!!!” talks people are still clamoring for.
    Even if Zuffa can’t put the UFC brand name onto Versus because of the Spike Exclusive cable deal contract which other sites have spoken about. I don’t see why it isn’t an option to host SOME title fights, or big fight names for the WEC on UFC ppv broadcasts from time to time.
    Even to clearly speak of the fighters as being from the WEC while on the UFC PPV B’cast.
    Ofcourse Versus wouldn’t want their MMA brand looking like a second fiddle to the Spike/UFC and it’s understandable. Especially for Versus to “lose” title fights to PPV when their revenue for ads will drop heavily.
    The real alternative solution is to “re-open” the closed divisions of the WEC and when the UFC has guys who have lost 2 straight, or need “a few wins to get back in” you throw them on the Versus broadcast as an undercard fight.
    Guys with some name value such as Houston Alexander and Josh Neer could easily help draw some eyes to a Versus broadcast in fights with either UFC Vets, OR prospect/new signee’s of ZUFFA.

    This way everyone gets the rub off the UFC brand name.
    The top tier WEC guys get an occassional bigger pay day/exposure of a UFC PPV fight.
    The UFC has an added source of fighters and titles to draw from.
    Spike keeps their exclusive UFC broadcast deal in the states.
    Versus, while losing potential revenue from having guys like Faber and company potentially fighting 1-2 times less a year on their channel, gain the oppertunity to have some of the guys who fight on their channel being viewed by many more eyes on a UFC event, with the hope that those eyes in turn will start tuning in to WEC events, plus the added plus of having UFC vets/washouts occassionally fighting on their broadcast to help draw eyes.

    Ofcourse the downside being for WEC broadcasts that if a fight w former UFC guys are on, thats 1 less fight for WEC newcomers or others who down the road could potentially become draws for the promotion and channel. With the good comes the bad.

    Also the WEC needs to get a deal in place to show the prelims on Versus, either on a weeks tape delay or some advertised method. There are to many good god damn fighters and fights that we never get to see (UFC video vault style or on TV) unless it’s on the WrekCage repeats at 2 am.
    Once Versus gets serious in making the WEC something more than fodder between Rodeo’s and Hunting shows, sets aside time when MMA fans will know they can go and watch mma (ie. Friday nights on HDnet) regardless of its old repeats, recent prelims, or wrekcage bonanza’s then ratings, value& viewership will all stay the same.

  9. jr says:

    Reed Harris is like a QB with tunnel vision.

  10. Dave says:

    It is simple logistics for Zuffa; they have a contract with Spike for UFC programming and the easiest way to spread their stuff is to keep WEC on Versus. I think a part of it is not wanting some other company to land a spot on Versus, but with Versus losing so many markets who knows anymore?

    WEC also contains a cold, dark truth that MMA doesn’t draw, UFC does. Zuffa can’t even draw outside of their own brand.

  11. dyno says:

    Dave, WEC does “DRAW”. On the local level their attendance levels (aside from Youngston Ohio) are pretty decent. In Sacto they draw 12k, and other locations have been strong draws too. Considering that these events are usually the first time a large promotion is running a show in that region. The WEC/Zuffa has produced many “Name” talents that even casual fans seem to recognize even ifthey don’t watch the shows.
    Zuffa didn’t become a draw overnight, it takes a lot of time and patience to get to where they are now, with a bit of luck and ruthlessness thrown in ofcourse. I read an article before that mentioned the original Tito vs Kenny Roidrock ppv drew 150k in buys, which at that time and place was an amazing number. Nowadays it would be met with internet titles of “Epic Fail!” and other similar ones.

    XFC draws 10k+ in Tampa but less than half of that in Tennessee where they are trying to build up a fan base. So when you look at it, te WEC does a good job of drawing at the gate. Also, while their ratings aren’t on par with UFC events on Spike, the ratings are usually at the top of the list for Versus.

    MMA as a whole isn’t a draw, the UFC is a draw mainly because of the level of advertising they do and being a product of a long slow growth along the way.

    Do I think that Zuffa should put their top 8 Featherweights and Bantamweights in the TUF house for a winner take all 500k prize which would surely increase the marketability value for their top tier guys in the company? Hell yeah. And truth be told, it might be the next logical step for the TUF format as a whole after the subpar quality of fights we’ve seen this season with the Heavyweights.
    If Zuffa put their contracted fighters on the show to fight each other, while they would lose the potential revenue at the gate & ppv for those fights, the tv exposure and buildup towards a big payday tournament final on ppv or tv would surely benefit all.

  12. dyno says:

    forgot to mention the WEC pretty much outdraws Strikeforce (outside of the HP Pav) and any other regional or national product out there. It’s just not on the financial level the UFC is.

  13. dragomort says:

    You need to post more on your website dyno! :p Good to see you’re still around at least.

    WEC is in a transition period right now while the UFC itself is half-floundering for big draws for their stream of cards with all the injuries while both seem to be resisting a merger still. Even the fans and media all seem to be wanting it to happen, yet it seems to just be a dream still. I haven’t seen it broken down from anyone with your perspective though, Zach. You’ve shown that you’ve thought about it in a few brief posts, but never offered up an analysis in any depth. I’d like a more fleshed out article of what you can see on it if you’ve got the time and desire, for what it’s worth. I think there’s something that is being missed, whether it’s diluting the brands through the merger, the VS/Spike contracts making it untenable or just a reticence to making the leap. I can’t say what it is, but there has to be something keeping it from happening.

  14. Jamie says:

    dyno, when and where did you see Rage in the Cage draw 5,000?

    I have been a few times and 250 seems like a more accuate number

  15. Alan Conceicao says:

    Dave, WEC does “DRAW”. On the local level their attendance levels (aside from Youngston Ohio) are pretty decent.

    They’re honestly not that much better than the IFL, and people shit on the IFL constantly for only pulling 3-4000 people to MMA shows. Less than a year ago they couldn’t sell 700 tickets in Vegas.

  16. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Isn’t Sacramento relatively close to where WEC used to hold shows in the pre-Zuffa days?

    The comparison between that and Strikeforce running the HP Pavilion is relatively apropos.

  17. Alan Conceicao says:

    Sacramento is nowhere near Tachi Palace.

  18. Dave says:

    Live crowds are one thing, television crowds are another.

    My friends know WEC about as well as they know Strikeforce — the place where Cung Le/Ken Shamrock’s brother happened that one time — aka not that well.

  19. Manapua says:

    The UFC just has too many shows already and they don’t have a deep enough pool to provide for them. MMA is losing a lot of steam now. If MMA can die in Japan that it can even easier here.

  20. MikeJJ says:

    I don’t like the merger talk.

    The UFC’s roster is deep enough already.
    They have no prob showing 11-12 fights each month on ppv.

    Adding some idk 30-50 lighter weighclass fighters to the UFC roster means that either each card gets watered down because the ppv’s per year won’t go up and the actual fights on a ppv night won’t either.

    So it’s more fighters that want to shine and have a place to earn money on the same numbers of ppv events.

    It also means less free mma on tv.

    What’s the BIG argument for a merger, again?

  21. dyno says:

    hey drago, i miss you too (maybe you know NYCStripper my fiend?). I peak around. I’ve just had a lot of shit go sour for me in the real world and just trying to get my feet back on track and get my head right before I start having fun again with my friends. That’s why I’m mia.
    Lifes a bitch.

    Dave: The IFL was always heavily papered. However, the 8,000 they pulled in for the last Meadowlands show was no fluke, it was a prime example of the dumb MyNetwork tv exposure to 750k-1million eyes a week. Sure they papered Vegas on a big scale but what can you do, the IFL as a concept was okay and cheesy but the 900k production budget was just to much to big to fast.

    MikeJJ: A few arguments are guys like Faber and Torres feel they deserve pay on the level of UFC fighters since they all work for Zuffa.
    Another are locker room bonuses, Henderson and Cerrone got 8k each as a fight of the night bonus, a fight that would have gotten 60k as a fight night bonus on a UFC ppv.

    So the financial discrepancies are there.

    The UFC has hard enough time producing 3-4 fights for most of their 200-250 fights per year, adding another 50 guys will only limit how many fights each of those guys get a year.

    The WEC doesn’t receive royalty/broadcast fees from Versus as much as Spike gives the UFC, they make less on Advertising, and less at the gate. The biggest WEC gate was ~850,000. That was what the UFC almost made for a fight night in OKC recently drawing 8000 fans.

    There’s alot of give and take and if it was easy and changing the name to the UFC, they would have done it when they absorbed the original weight classes when they realized that just being Zuffa owned wasn’t enough of a rub to make the company financially viable or successful on their own.

  22. dragomort says:

    It’s lonely over there without you :p and people are constantly wondering what’s up with you. I’m just glad you’re still around. And life is sucking or at least is on the verge of it in general for a lot of people, myself included, so I completely understand. Just don’t hesitate to stop by whenever you do get the chance at some point.

    I think they have far more potential for employee satisfaction and revenue gain as the UFC. I can appreciate existing contract messes and not wanting to put all your eggs in one basket, but the upside seems far greater than the downside if they can straighten out those problems and the logistics. I also don’t think the roster problem is an issue either at all if they’d just put out more fight night type cards for the developing talent, thus giving everyone more free MMA and clearing up a problem with the added divisions while making the employees and fans happier…. as long as it’s done wisely (which is a big ‘if’ and depends on pre-existing deals and future plans in place) the upside is potentially huge and the downside is rather negligible in comparison, imo.

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