WEC’s First PPV Paramount for UFC-Owned Promotion

World Extreme Cagefighting’s pay-per-view debut on Saturday will be a pivotal event for the organization. Zuffa LLC., which bought the UFC in January 2001 and nurtured it into the industry leader it is today, has been here before. It was only nine years ago that Zuffa tried every possible equation between UFC 30 and UFC 40 to get that breakout pay-per-view event that would sell over 100, 000 buys.

Now, it’s the WEC’s turn. Bought by Zuffa in late 2006 as an independent promotion that could cater to the lighter-weight divisions the UFC didn’t carry, the WEC has something that the UFC didn’t when it dove into pay-per-view in 2001 -- it’s own TV deal on Versus. A TV deal has helped push the WEC along at a faster rate than what the UFC navigated until its break with “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2006. Still, running an event of Zuffa’s industry-high standards isn’t cheap, and the fighters eventually begin asking for more compensation. Pay-per-view becomes more a necessity then an option and UFC President Dana White is certainly familiar with that pressure.

“I truly believe that this is the card to launch pay-per-view for these guys,” White stated during a press conference on Thursday. “The pioneers of the UFC, the Chuck Liddell’s, the Couture’s, the Matt Hughes’, all these guys that started off fighting for small money until we grew the sport into what it is today -- the guys who are on this card on Saturday, these guys are the pioneers of the lighter-weight divisions.”

If anyone doubts the master barker’s pitch, they need only look to White himself, who’s gone into overdrive to ensure the pay-per-view gets the best leg up it can. This week, White took the WEC’s promotional helm, a job previously occupied by General Manager Reed Harris. UFC announcer Bruce Buffer and commentators Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan will call the event, replacing the WEC’s usual broadcast ensemble.

Stripping the sister promotion further of its identity, Zuffa has also decided to market the event minus the WEC brand and named the show simply “Aldo vs. Faber” -- a complete 180 from White’s proclamations in early 2007 that the newly purchased company would stand on its own and have a separate staff and identity from its promotional sibling.

“People keep asking what’s going on? How come your doing this? The bottom line is it’s the same company,” said White on Thursday. “The UFC and the WEC are the same company, the same owners , same everything. For the pay-per-view, there’s a pay-per-view team. I guess I’m part of the pay-per-view team.”

The drastic changes reflect Zuffa in a state it hasn’t had to deal with in a while -- one of uncertainty. In these situations, Zuffa does what it has done in the past; it turns to what is within its control. The fighters assigned to Saturday’s card are the best the WEC can offer in this moment. The two co-headlining bouts, a featherweight championship bout between Jose Aldo and challenger Urijah Faber and a lightweight rematch between champion Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone, both have the potential to be barnburners. These fighters have added incentive to fight their hearts on Saturday beyond performance bonuses.

“I would definitely say it's safe to say that us fighters, all of us fighters, the four of us, everyone else on the undercard, we know that this is our shot for pay-per-view,” said 155-pound champion Henderson on Thursday. “We know this is the big time.”

“I guarantee there is ‘fight of the year’ material’ here,” added Henderson’s opponent Cerrone.

Henderson and Cerrone’s financial futures could hinge on a strong or weak buy rate on Saturday; without a healthy number, Zuffa will only put on so many more WEC events. Earlier in the week, White promised that Saturday’s participants would get record paydays for the event, which is comparably priced to the UFC at $54.95 in HD.

“For these smaller guys to be on pay-per-view, this is how these guys makes their money,” said White. “Everybody was talking about the price of this event. This is what it should be priced at. This is what these guys deserve.”

White’s stake in Saturday’s outcome seems to go beyond profit margins. After two weeks and two major events under-delivering to the fans -- one of them White’s (UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi) and the other from rival promotion Strikeforce (on April 17 in Nashville, Tenn.) -- a disgruntled White seemed to carry the weight of the sport on his shoulders.

“I take it personal(ly) when (the UFC) doesn’t put on a good performance and the fans do too,” said White. “What happened in Abu Dhabi -- it’s just not who we are. I’m going to be bold enough to tell you guys that its not going to happen again. I can guarantee you it’s not going to happen on Saturday night.”