Versus

Report: WEC, Versus Set to Ink New Deal

While the WEC’s eventual move to pay-per-view has been prominent news lately, the promotion has reportedly been working on a new multi-year deal with Versus, which has been the exclusive broadcaster of WEC events for nearly two years now:

Versus is about to sign a multiyear rights extension with World Extreme Cagefighting, an important renewal for the mixed martial arts property. The long-term extension, which should be finalized in the next few weeks, will have Versus televising more WEC fight cards in 2009. Last year, it had six WEC events on its schedule.

Versus is paying a rights fee for the programming, but details were not available. The extension will be for more than two years. The deal will give Versus some broadband rights as well, allowing Versus.com to carry some WEC bouts not telecast on the network, sources said. The bouts will not be streamed live.

It’s clear that the WEC isn’t ready to hold a PPV event that would generate financial success just yet. They might not even be ready before the end of this year, which is why having Versus dedicated to them for the near future is extremely important.

Other than that, the potential of Versus.com being able to host some of the non-televised preliminary bouts is another step in the right direction. It’s obviously not going to gain the popularity of the “UFC Vault” but should allow fans to be able to watch fights they haven’t seen and follow some lesser-known fighters.

Despite Lack of Hype, WEC 39 Still Pulls Solid Rating

Unfortunately for World Extreme Cagefighting, their latest event was squished in between UFC 93, Affliction Entertainment’s “Day of Reckoning” show, and this weekend’s UFC 94, yet they still managed to pull off the second best rating for a live event in the promotion’s history.

From the Wrestling Observer Newsletter via MMA Payout:

The show did a 0.65 rating and 700,000 viewers, which, while only half of what their first match (Faber vs. Pulver) on 6/1 did, was still the second highest amount of viewers in the history of the promotion.

The advertising on Versus and other cable channels was relatively non-existent this time around compared to the last few shows that the WEC put on, which makes it seem as if fans are spreading news about the show via word of mouth these days. WEC 39 nearly had a great lead-in with the NHL All-Star Game running a tad late, but Versus ruined the potential by running a full episode of Sports Soup and delaying the live start of the main card by 45 minutes. Still, this is a great sign for Zuffa, who has continually been planning to eventually have some WEC events move to pay-per-view in the near future.

WEC 37 Results

The WEC rebounded from a lackluster show on November 5th with a solid effort.  Only four fights were shown in the allotted time which was somewhat of a disappointment.  Miguel Torres once again looked impressive in defeating challenger Manny Tapia to retain his bantamweight title.  In a battle of fellow bantamweight contenders, Brian Bowles and Will Ribeiro fought the best fight of the night that was televised, with Bowles finally sinking in a deep guillotine for the victory.  Wagnney Fabiano also notched another solid win in a very technical grappling affair that saw minimal action on the feet. 

Results courtesy of MMA Junkie

Miguel Torres def. Manny Tapia via TKO (strikes)—Round 2, 3:04
Wagnney Fabiano def. Akitoshi Tamura via submission (head-arm choke)—Round 3, 4:48
Brian Bowles def. Will Ribeiro via submission (guillotine choke)—Round 3, 1:11
Joseph Benavidez def. Danny Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Johny Hendricks def. Justin Haskins via TKO (strikes)—Round 2, 0:52
Mark Munoz def. Blas Avena via TKO (strikes)—Round 1, 2:26
Diego Nunes def. Cole Province via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Bart Palaszewski def. Alex Karalexis via TKO (strikes)—Round 2, 1:11
Cub Swanson def. Hirouki Takaya via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Shane Roller def. Mike Budnik via submission (guillotine choke)—Round 1, 1:01

CKA for December 2, 2008

WEC 38 made official

WEC has announced that their next event following tomorrow night’s show will take place in San Diego on January 25, 2009. 

World Extreme Cagefighting® today announced that for the first event of 2009, the cage will head west to the hotbed of mixed martial arts - California - to hold the first ever WEC® event in San Diego. Two blockbuster matchups will lead the main card, with the World Lightweight Championship fight between Jamie Varner and undefeated Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone as the main event, and the mega-rematch pitting Urijah Faber against Jens Pulver in the co-main event.  World Extreme Cagefighting, featuring Varner vs. Cerrone and Faber vs. Pulver 2, takes place live from the San Diego Sports Arena on Sunday, January 25, 2009.

Aoki vs Alvarez on NYE?

Continue reading "CKA for December 2, 2008"

WEC 37 Final Card and Lineup

The WEC is set to promote their latest event, this time emanating from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.  The featured fight will be for the bantamweight championship, as title holder Miguel Torres looks to tangle with the dangerous and undefeated Manny Tapia.  Four of the world’s top 10 ranked bantamweights will be competing as well as an extremely intriguing matchup between top 10 ranked featherwights in Akitoshi Tamura and Wagnney Fabiano.  The WEC continues to put on solid cards featuring many of the world’s best in the lighter weight classes.

The broadcast on the Versus network begins at 8pm EST.  Here’s the card as it stands now before weigh ins.

Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia
Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro
Akitoshi Tamura vs. Wagnney Fabiano
Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez

Preliminary Fights:
Johny Hendricks vs. Justin Haskins
Mark Munoz vs. Ricardo Barros
Bias Avena vs. Kevin Knabjian
Diego Nunes vs. Cole Province
Bart Palaszewski vs. Alex Karalexis
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Cub Swanson
Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik

 

WEC 37 Fight Card Is Finalized

Barring any last minute injuries or weight issues, the fight card is set for December 3rd’s WEC 37 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.  The card will feature MMAonTap’s #1 ranked bantamweight, WEC Champion Miguel Torres, taking on undefeated challenger Manny Tapia.  This fight has been a long time coming as Tapia has made it no secret that he’s wanted the challenge of taking on Torres.  Unfortunately, injuries have slowed Tapia in the past.

Main Card Live on Versus:
Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia for WEC Bantamweight Championship
Brian Bowles vs. Will Ribeiro
Wagnney Fabiano vs. Akitoshi Tamura
Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez
Justin Haskins vs. Johny Hendricks

Undercard:
Ricardo Barros vs. Mark Munoz
Blas Avena vs. Kevin Knabjian
Diego Nunes vs. Cole Province
Alex Karalexis vs. Bart Palaszewski
Cub Swanson vs. Hirouki Takaya
Shane Roller vs. Mike Budnik

 

Video Hype: Pulver Talks Faber at PBR

Former UFC lightweight champion Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver discusses his upcoming WEC featherweight title fight against current champion Urijah Faber, which takes place just a little more than two weeks away on June 1st at WEC 34 in Sacramento, California in the above video at a recent PBR event courtesy of Versus.

Pulver talks about the mutual respect he and Faber have for each other, how he plans to put on an exciting fight on for all of the fans watching, and why he would like to out-wrestle and score a submission win over Faber to prove that his skills are still evolving.

WEC 33 Recap and Thoughts

So I figured I’d put down some of my thoughts/opinions regarding last night’s televised WEC 33 card on the Versus network.

First off, the WEC may just be my favorite promotion.  Because they feature the lighter weight classes, there always seems to be action.  While many of the guys are raw, they always seem to bring it.

Last night the WEC began using Craig Hummer for the post fight interviews.  I like Frank Mir as the color analyst a lot.  His knowledge really comes through in the call of the fight.  Sometimes he makes the claim that a submission is “locked in” and that “its over” a bit prematurely, but I can live with that.  The only weakness was his post fight interviews.  By using a professional like Craig Hummer, it came across much better. 

On to the broadcasted fights.

Continue reading "WEC 33 Recap and Thoughts"

WEC and Versus Announce “Outside the Cage”

Versus, the network that celebrates real competition in all its forms and the cable television home of World Extreme Cagefighting, today announced details of the network’s fourth live event on December 12. With three world titles on the line as well as the return of a true mixed martial arts legend, this WEC event is not only the biggest and best show of the year, it’s the greatest card in the history of the organization.

The fights will air live on Versus Wednesday, December 12, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT and will originate from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The event will be presented in HD where available. 
The telecast’s main event will feature WEC Featherweight Champion “The California Kid” Urjiah Faber (19-1) defending his title against Jeff “Big Frog” Curran (28-8-1), a UFC and PRIDE veteran. “The Rhino” Doug Marshall (6-2) will defend his Light Heavyweight title against Cuban fighter Ariel Gandulla (4-0); Paulo Filho (15-0) puts his undefeated record on the line to defend his WEC Middleweight crown against Chael Sonnen (19-8-1); and former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens “Lil’ Evil” Pulver (7-0) will make his WEC debut at 145 lbs. against rising star Cub Swanson.
The fight on December 12 is the first fight after Versus and WEC announced an extension of the partnership to bring 15 additional live WEC events and 20 WEC Wrekcage episodes—a show that features a mix of the top matches from WEC events never before seen on television and Versus’ best live events—to the network. 
“Three great title fights on the card, led by one of the most popular MMA fighters in Urijah Faber, coupled with the WEC debut of UFC star Jens Pulver is a great way to kick off our recently extended partnership,” said Marc Fein, Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for Versus. “Viewership has increased with each fight since the WEC’s first event on Versus and we are confident that this tremendous line-up of fights will continue that trend.”
To kick start the WEC’s year-end spectacular on December 12 a little early, the network will air WEC Outside the Cage, on Dec. 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. WEC Outside the Cage will include interviews, fight clips and behind the scenes footage to preview the WEC live event on Dec. 12.

Are the October and November WEC Events Not Being Televised?

This thought came across my mind last night while I was watching the broadcast…

After his win over Rich Crunkilton, WEC Lightweight Champion Rob McCullough told Frank Mir that his next fight will most likely be in November. Cub Swanson has already said that his bout with Jens Pulver has been rescheduled for November. We reported last month that Doug Marshall was set to defend his WEC Light Heavyweight Championship against Ariel Gandulla in October. So why is the WEC promoting it’s next televised event for December 12th?

I don’t think the WEC 30 and 31 are going to be televised. Why? Probably because of Versus’ coverage of the NHL. It’s a shame but hockey is obviously a bigger draw for the network.

I’m waiting for confirmation back from the WEC about this. I could be wrong. Hopefully I am…