WEC to PPV in April

[Mr. IWS]

$44.95 = Epic Fail IMO

World Extreme Cagefighting will make its long-awaited pay-per-view debut April 24 and will feature a main event between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and former titleholder Urijah Faber, the company announced Wednesday via Twitter. “The California Kid” will once again take to the cage in his hometown of Sacramento, where the WEC has drawn big crowds to the Arco Arena on three previous trips.

The WEC also announced that lightweight champion Benson Henderson will defend his belt against Donald Cerrone in a rematch of their epic battle from last fall. The fight was named the “Sherdog.com Fight of the Year” for 2009.

Another former champion, featherweight Mike Thomas Brown, will square off with “The Ultimate Fighter” runner-up Manny Gamburyan in what will likely be a title eliminator.

Speculation has abounded as to when the UFC’s sister promotion would finally make the jump to the pay model and with the announcement of Aldo-Faber, Henderson-Cerrone and Brown-Gamburyan it is apparent the company thought the iron was hot enough to strike.

“We wanted to wait until we had this type of card to go to pay-per-view,” said WEC General Manager Reed Harris in an earlier interview with the AP. “We didn’t want to do a pay-per-view show until fans would say at the end of the night, ‘This was worth it.’ This will truly be the biggest event we’ve ever done.”

The price for the pay-per-view will be $44.95, according to an AP report.

With a primary part of its exposure coming via the Versus network, WEC, like every other MMA promotion, has lingered in the shadow of the UFC. The organization’s parent company, Zuffa, has begun a diligent effort to bring more eyes to the premier venue for lighter weight fighters. Zuffa will be airing a UFC card on Versus Mar. 21 that will feature super-prospect Jon Jones against Brandon Vera, as well as a heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Gabriel Gonzaga that will have major title implications.

[Luke]

I wouldnt pay 9.95 let own 44.95 .


WEC is going to lose all its viewers

[SPX]

It's really pretty hypocritical on the part of many MMA fans. If you go over to Sherdog during a WEC event and there are tons of people talking about how the WEC always puts on a consistently good show and how they're events are often better than the UFCs. But those same people are bitching about the price when it's the same price as the UFC.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to do this right now and I don't think it's going to work out for them, but at the same time if they're shows are so good--and they are--then why don't they deserve to be the same price as a UFC? Because the fighters aren't as big?

[zY|]

Hey if it gets the fighters paid I'm fine with it. I'm not going to buy it but that's not the point lol.

And it is a pretty damn stacked card.

Aldo/Faber and Cerrone/Henderson 2 on the same card? Count me in.

Mike Brown is fighting Manny Gamburyan too? Sick.

[Luke]

I still dont get the whole WEC thing anyway .Why not just combine the the two.Whats really the need for WEC?

[Luke]

It's really pretty hypocritical on the part of many MMA fans. If you go over to Sherdog during a WEC event and there are tons of people talking about how the WEC always puts on a consistently good show and how they're events are often better than the UFCs. But those same people are bitching about the price when it's the same price as the UFC.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to do this right now and I don't think it's going to work out for them, but at the same time if they're shows are so good--and they are--then why don't they deserve to be the same price as a UFC? Because the fighters aren't as big?

There's a big differnce between a good show and a 44.95 show.I watched CSI and think its a good show but no way in hell am I paying 45 bucks to watch CSI

[GGarr]

It's really pretty hypocritical on the part of many MMA fans. If you go over to Sherdog during a WEC event and there are tons of people talking about how the WEC always puts on a consistently good show and how they're events are often better than the UFCs. But those same people are bitching about the price when it's the same price as the UFC.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to do this right now and I don't think it's going to work out for them, but at the same time if they're shows are so good--and they are--then why don't they deserve to be the same price as a UFC? Because the fighters aren't as big?

There's a big differnce between a good show and a 44.95 show.I watched CSI and think its a good show but no way in hell am I paying 45 bucks to watch CSI

I think more what SPX means is that if someone did pay $45 for CSI, but refused to pay $45 for CSI: Miami even though they think it is often a better show, that would be hypocritical.

[SPX]

I think more what SPX means is that if someone did pay $45 for CSI, but refused to pay $45 for CSI: Miami even though they think it is often a better show, that would be hypocritical.

You're 100% correct, sir.

Welcome to the forum.

[SPX]

I still dont get the whole WEC thing anyway .Why not just combine the the two.Whats really the need for WEC?

I think if they merged the two then the lighter weight classes wouldn't get nearly as much exposure. A lot of the fighters who get on the main card for WEC events would be stuck on the undercard for UFC events. I guess they could add another UFC event every month, but maybe they feel that, strategically, that wouldn't be a good move because then the UFC brand would be subject to overexposure and the public would stop caring.

[Mr. IWS]

I would like to see them just merge the two companys. Put together a 2 hour spike tv show that will lead into the PPV.

I would love to have a 5 hour night of MMA, and they can showcase these WEC guys on that preshow. They will get way more eyeballs on them than being on Versus, and charging $45 for a PPV in my opinion.

[SPX]

I would like to see them just merge the two companys. Put together a 2 hour spike tv show that will lead into the PPV.

I would love to have a 5 hour night of MMA, and they can showcase these WEC guys on that preshow. They will get way more eyeballs on them than being on Versus, and charging $45 for a PPV in my opinion.

Considering that Zuffa is debuting a UFC show on Versus next month, it doesn't look like they're interesting in ending their relationship with them any time soon.

[zY|]

It's really pretty hypocritical on the part of many MMA fans. If you go over to Sherdog during a WEC event and there are tons of people talking about how the WEC always puts on a consistently good show and how they're events are often better than the UFCs. But those same people are bitching about the price when it's the same price as the UFC.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to do this right now and I don't think it's going to work out for them, but at the same time if they're shows are so good--and they are--then why don't they deserve to be the same price as a UFC? Because the fighters aren't as big?

There's a big differnce between a good show and a 44.95 show.I watched CSI and think its a good show but no way in hell am I paying 45 bucks to watch CSI

this card is a hell of a lot better than ufc 109, or ufc 106, both of which were ppv.

Although I agree they should merge the companies.

[Luke]

I would like to see them just merge the two companys. Put together a 2 hour spike tv show that will lead into the PPV.

I would love to have a 5 hour night of MMA, and they can showcase these WEC guys on that preshow. They will get way more eyeballs on them than being on Versus, and charging $45 for a PPV in my opinion.

100% agree