Faber, Brown, Torres, Aldo..to ufc?

With that kind of talent and depth would the UFC benefit having a featherweight division..Faber is very marketable and a good choice for the face of the division. any opinions?

I think the biggest problem with that is that those are some of the biggest faces of the entire WEC... If they move them to the UFC then what happens to the WEC?

 i mean its only a matter of time.

The UFC already has way too big a roster for its show schedule.  Adding featherweights and a 2nd overlapping division and weakening the WEC, which really only has 2.5 divisions to start with, makes little sense.



They get very little additional PPV draw (which is how the UFC makes 90% of their money) out of featherweights.  Even the best known featherweights like Brown and Faber are going to move FEW additional PPVs over whatever the card would move without them.  So little additional value there.



They're better off rebranding WEC as UFC-Max or something like that and keeping divisions as they are.  Adding featherweights to the UFC just doesn't make much sense.

DaveM - I think the biggest problem with that is that those are some of the biggest faces of the entire WEC... If they move them to the UFC then what happens to the WEC?


UFC could sell it as the minor leagues, instead of cutting some notable faces they could send them to development league...leites, danzig, sadollah are prime examples of fighters who need time to develop and that could be sent down as already household names. Brown wasn't a face till he beat faber, then he was up there. Faces come and go, i think the biggest loss they would take is faber. Zuffa does market well so i think they could rebound pretty quickly.

Nobody wants a minor league MMA product. At least by maintaining some of the best feathers and bantams they have a serious franchise for when the audience builds with those weight classes. WEC is a growth engine, UFC is a cash cow. Cutting off the legs of your growth engine for a marginal benefit to your cash cow is a terrible business idea.

Mad Xyientist - Nobody wants a minor league MMA product. At least by maintaining some of the best feathers and bantams they have a serious franchise for when the audience builds with those weight classes. WEC is a growth engine, UFC is a cash cow. Cutting off the legs of your growth engine for a marginal benefit to your cash cow is a terrible business idea.


It basically operates as a minor league with call up and send downs..condit, larson, nelson. How about the same concept without the minor league tag. There has been management talk about absorbing the company after their versus contract expires.

Reeper83 - 
Mad Xyientist - Nobody wants a minor league MMA product. At least by maintaining some of the best feathers and bantams they have a serious franchise for when the audience builds with those weight classes. WEC is a growth engine, UFC is a cash cow. Cutting off the legs of your growth engine for a marginal benefit to your cash cow is a terrible business idea.


It basically operates as a minor league with call up and send downs..condit, larson, nelson. How about the same concept without the minor league tag. There has been management talk about absorbing the company after their versus contract expires.


 There aren't "call ups and send downs," the elimination of the LHW, MW, and WW divisions from the WEC and the signing of the top fighters in the UFC was actually a move AWAY from the "minor league" system you're talking about.  They minimized their overlapping divisions to simply LW so that WEC had a completely differentiated product and was seen as a premium product for a differentiated segment, rather than a minor league or value product for the same segment. 



If they absorb the WEC down the road, they will have to up the show schedule, and MOST CERTAINLY absorb the entire divisions, not just the top fighters.



Signing the top feathers to the UFC and introducing a 2nd overlapping division would effectively be giving the remaining WEC a death sentence while creating very very minimal additional drawing power for your UFC product over what they have already.  Won't happen, and for a reason.

Mad Xyientist - 
Reeper83 - 
Mad Xyientist - Nobody wants a minor league MMA product. At least by maintaining some of the best feathers and bantams they have a serious franchise for when the audience builds with those weight classes. WEC is a growth engine, UFC is a cash cow. Cutting off the legs of your growth engine for a marginal benefit to your cash cow is a terrible business idea.

It basically operates as a minor league with call up and send downs..condit, larson, nelson. How about the same concept without the minor league tag. There has been management talk about absorbing the company after their versus contract expires.

 There aren't "call ups and send downs," the elimination of the LHW, MW, and WW divisions from the WEC and the signing of the top fighters in the UFC was actually a move AWAY from the "minor league" system you're talking about.  They minimized their overlapping divisions to simply LW so that WEC had a completely differentiated product and was seen as a premium product for a differentiated segment, rather than a minor league or value product for the same segment. 

If they absorb the WEC down the road, they will have to up the show schedule, and MOST CERTAINLY absorb the entire divisions, not just the top fighters.

Signing the top feathers to the UFC and introducing a 2nd overlapping division would effectively be giving the remaining WEC a death sentence while creating very very minimal additional drawing power for your UFC product over what they have already.  Won't happen, and for a reason.


I guess what i am trying to say is that the UFC is signing fighters like MLB free agency, their roster is getting huge so reform in how many quality events, how many fight nights..etc will be discussed in the near future. There will also be many roster cuts in the next couple months...UFC 102 prelims is looking like a try-out session. Dana wouldn't want decent fighters going to strikeforce...so either more ufc events on spike or main cards, or WEC reform.