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Dana White interview with Greg Papa on Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area
By Zach Arnold | April 23, 2010
It was a four-minute spot on Chronicle Live basically to hype up how Comcast customers could order the WEC PPV on Saturday night.
Except, WEC is nowhere to be found. The WEC logo, the name WEC, it’s not being mentioned or pushed at all. On the interview spot, there were Bud Light logos on the background along with white block lettering for Aldo vs. Faber. If there was any indication of just how low UFC views the WEC name, this was it. In many ways, they view the WEC name the same way WWE viewed the ECW name.
The push by Dana White for this fight is that this is the biggest fight in Featherweight history and that both fighters (Jose Aldo & Urijah Faber) are “wild men.”
White was asked about last week’s Strikeforce show in Nashville and the brawl between Mayhem Miller and Cesar Gracie’s camp. White said that you shouldn’t allow too many guys in the cage after a fight and that Scott Coker sent Mayhem Miller into the cage after the fight to try to set up a re-match with Jake Shields because they didn’t count on Dan Henderson losing.
Commenting on Strikeforce and Showtime, White said: “They’re a bush league promotion, they don’t belong on CBS and even they know that.”
Regarding Shields coming to UFC:
“Jake Shields definitely wants to fight in the UFC.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I really do not understand why so many mma blogs/writers are so up in arms about Dana White promoting Faber/Aldo over the WEC name. It’s clear the wec brand is weak and needs help to sell this ppv. While I can understand the criticism of White for not folding wec fighters into the ufc before this ppv, I think all of the discussion/critique/outrage over White promoting Faber & Aldo over the WEC name completely overblown.
I think this is a perfect example of criticism of mma blogs/writer/journalists going after White too much or unfairly. It’s not so much that White gets blasted & over analyzed for everything he says, it’s that the people writing/blogging about him need to make better choices in their battles/critiques of the ufc/white imo.
Sorry if I’m laying into you too much Zach, I think it’s because this is the millionth blog I’ve read on the wec ppv. Ok, I’m off to watch Sonnon talk smack on inside mma.
I look at the WEC branding issue in only one regard: What does it mean for the future of the organization when UFC has no confidence in mentioning it in marketing for the promotion’s PPV debut?
I don’t think mentioning the fact that WEC is not being pushed here nor is the staff that usually works the WEC events for Zuffa not working the Arco Arena show has anything to do one way or another in relation to if I personally care or not about the topic.
If they had no confidence they wouldn’t be on ppv, this is the problem with the argument the fact that Zuffa thinks enough of the product to not fold it and instead make it grow answers that question.
Whether it’s WEC 48-Aldo vs. Faber or UFC present’s Aldo vs. Faber it doesn’t change what it is and stands for the fact that they’ve made the seperation from the normal WEC. To what is now going to be a sort of WEC supershow, gives it a certain mystique that just having all the same players wouldn’t. It’s smart now will it succeed who knows but the track record of Zuffa and company is pretty damn good so if anyone can make it work it’s them.
I like it. More proof that the FW and BW divisions will eventually be under the UFC banner.
I think the TV contracts are keeping them from really making this a reality.
It’s just a matter of time before the merger. They’re leaving too much money on the table when they have these great fights in the WEC. It’ll only be a couple years at most.
Buddhist article mentioning Dan Hardy and UFC:
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=16280
This was for all points and purposes a UFC ppv, Bruce Buffer doing the fighter introductions, Goldie and Rogan doing the commentary, DW featured at the event, etc. To be honest, I think the WEC has served it’s purpose and that is to get the names of the lighter fighters known and I’d say mission accomplished. Even with plans of bringing in the Flyweight divsion, I still see the 3 lighter weight classes being under the UFC banner in the next couple of years. With talks of Zuffa bringing the WEC 155 lbs division into the UFC, it’s only a matter of when the remaining weight classes come in.
It would be awesome to watch Frank Edgar drop down to 145 and challenge Aldo for that Featherweight tile or vica versa. The WEC has been great and I do enjoy their fights but the UFC has a certain amount of name recognition and tradition as being the top of the world and 95% of all MMA fighters dream of competing in the UFC. If the UFC adds the 145, 135 and 125 lbs divisions from the WEC, those guys can realize that dream. Aldo and Faber easily would’ve headlined any UFC ppv and I believe the brass at Zuffa knows this.
In the coming years look for those WEC champs to be swapping their WEC gold for UFC gold and a big unification match between Ben Henderson and the winner of Edgar vs Penn 2 if the Lightweights have been officially moved to the UFC by then. I look forward to seeing if Henderson can hang with the big dogs in the UFC Lightweight division and he deserves that chance.