I just kind of feel like the WEC is the MMA equivalent of Triple-A baseball. And it's sad, because it's the best organization in the world in two very exciting divisions.
So here it is, Wednesday night, prime time, WEC 50, a title fight on Versus, a network that has done nothing but promote this organization since it began carrying it. And I live in an urban environment where I subsequently have done nothing but attempt to get casual football fans to follow MMA. And oddly enough, everyone loves it. Any fight with Brock Lesnar, Rampage Jackson, Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, BJ Penn: Cards featuring stars such as these I have no trouble getting all of my friends behind. In 2010, sports are all about marketing stars and making new stars. And sad to say, in the entire history of WEC, the only star to ever been made is Urijah Faber, who is not the top fighter at 145 lb at the moment, though possibly has more mainstream endorsements than every other MMA fighter combined at this point. Subsequently, I can't get anyone to watch WEC. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. Only the hardcore fans are watching WEC.
So naturally the geniuses at Zuffa, owners of both the UFC and WEC, decided to promote a stacked card on Versus, a channel that Dish Network doesn't even offer on its basic package, on a Wednesday night, a night when the demographic that any MMA broadcast should be targeting should probably be more attentive to wives and children than to dudes banging in a cage live on a fairly unavailable channel. I am pretty interested to see what the rating is for the show, because it can't be very good, and it could have been a lot better had a little bit of foresight been applied...
I am the one hardcore MMA fan in my entire group of friends in Northern Virginia. I went to the sold out UFC Fight Night in Fairfax in January and paid 85 dollars to sit in the nosebleeds with no other friends at Patriot Center for a fairly crappy card. I try to market it as best I can to my friends who are less educated about the sport, but I am held captive by the cards that are offered. It is extremely difficult to convince my girlfriend to accompany me to the bar on a Saturday night, and pay a combined 10 dollar cover to watch a good UFC card with friends, much less an average or bad card. If it were my sole decision, I would watch every MMA card, because it is the most entertaining sport outside of football, and generally there is at least one great fight that is worth the time and effort, if not more. However, I do not live in a vacuum, and I have to convince others to watch as well, or otherwise, I can't legally watch my favorite sport without either sitting at a bar by myself (not advisable) or spending a huge amount of money to watch it at home (even worse).
My girlfriend was absolutely riveted by the Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen fight at UFC 117 on August 7. She loved that a fighter that I, and the rest of the world thought had no chance of losing could be threatened for an entire fight by a guy who was essentially a nobody. The only other sport that offers this sort of a thrill to non-fans is college football, a sport where Appalachian State can knock off perennial power Michigan, or a Boise State can beat Oklahoma in a BCS bowl game. I was wearing a UFC 82 T-Shirt that night and even though I saw in person that a good wrestler like Dan Henderson or Chael Sonnen could take a round from the great Anderson Silva, I never imagined that anyone could take four in a row or actually come close to winning. My jaw stayed dropped for about twenty solid minutes. Then when Silva won in the fifth and order was restored, I saw something I never expected. The casual fans thought that Josh Rosenthal jobbed Sonnen, and were angry at the outcome. But the craziest thing emerged from this fight.
My girlfriend knew Silva would win in the fifth, and thought Silva was working everyone.
You have to understand, my girlfriend is the only person I’ve allowed in my life that is significantly smarter than I am. This was the third UFC card she’d ever watched, and the second involving Silva, as she watched the Damian Maia fight, which I might be the only person on Earth who thought was an awesome fight (another argument for another day). She has a black belt in Taekwondo (who doesn’t? I should probably work on one since I know four), and thus has an interesting perspective on a sport she doesn’t actually follow or care about in the slightest. Naturally, at the start of the fifth round, when the entire bar is contemplating a world with Chael “The World’s Most Pissed Off Real Estate Agent” Sonnen as the 185 lb champion of the world, my girlfriend drops this bomb:
“Uh, babe, look at Silva’s poise, guard, and limbs. Sonnen is reckless. And…..tap.”
It was incredible. I’ve watched all 117 numbered UFC cards. That might out me as something of a fight dork, but it’s true. I’m no amateur in following this sport (don’t quiz me, I haven’t watched them all twice, but Joe Rogan’s performance on UFC 17 is something we should all watch daily as a prime example of what happens when one goes to work stoned). But naturally, my girlfriend made me feel like a jackass after the third card she ever watched. It was like my mom telling me to watch Jordan make the jumper at the end of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, only if Karl Malone was assaulting him from behind with a crow bar. There isn’t a great cross-sport comparison, just know that I felt like a moron.
So anyway, back to tonight. We’re out at a bar and I wanted to get back to the house for the 9 PM ET start for WEC 50, a card I was nearly as excited about as the stacked UFC 117 card, which might be the greatest card in the history of the sport. Did my girlfriend, the “choke whisperer,” the one who I felt might have been empowered considering she totally made me look like an ass after the last card we watched together, a whole 11 days ago, give a shit?
Nope.
And that’s the stigma of WEC. I watched the card tonight as she slept. Great card, as always, because the lighter divisions are generally fantastic. But you can’t market a second league to casual fans on weeknights in my age demographic that have to be up at 5 AM ET and go work. If Dominic Cruz had been fighting Joseph Benavidez for the 135 lb UFC Bantamweight Championship of the world, on a Saturday night, you’d better fucking believe people like my girlfriend would care. People like me would make sure of it. But WEC is a tough sell, and it’s time to kill it.
If UFC had 7 weight classes, we wouldn’t have these awful cards where a punch-drunk Chuck Liddell faces off with an underweight Rich Franklin as a TUF finale main event. People are supposed to want to pay money for these cards, and if people like me don’t want to, then who exactly does? Over the past four years UFC has averaged 13 numbered events per year. With 7 weight classes, we could feasibly have every card contain a title fight. This is what all fans want, hardcore and casual. Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers, it is time to do everyone a favor and strengthen your flagship product with the talent you already have, as quite frankly, no one wants your secondary product.
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