Perhaps Dana White has grown a little gun shy over the years, with all the media miscues on possible TV deals – The Ultimate Fighter had several before it finally came to fruition in January of 2005 – but the UFC president has all but confirmed the promotion’s intention to fold World Extreme Cagefighting into the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
White and co.’s decision appears to be more or less a timetable issue and negotiation between the sibling promotion’s television partners.
In a rather telling exchange at the pre-fight press conference for this weekend’s UFC 102 in Portland, Ore., White was asked about adding more weight classes to the UFC, to which he replied, “If we do any more weight classes, it’s gonna be lower, adding lighter weight classes.”
Asked what the chances of such additions actually were, he replied, “very good,” and indicated that a plausible timeframe for the additions was “probably real soon.”
When pressed as to whether that meant that WEC would basically fold into the UFC, White replied as a Cheshire grin spread across his face, “It doesn’t really mean that, but...”
It really means that.
The official company line, according to White: “What that means is I’ve gotta figure some (expletive) out.”
In a recent article on Yahoo! Sports, Kevin Iole suggested the UFC’s decision to keep the WEC a separate entity from the UFC – fundamentally depriving fighters such as Miguel Torres of the biggest stage in the sport – was “one of the most grievous” mistakes that White and company CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have made in their eight-and-a-half year tenure.
Sitting on the podium in front of a handful of reporters, including Iole, White said, “I don’t disagree with (the) article.”
He added later, “Even with all the things that we know how to do and the deal with have with Versus, which is a great deal, it’s still hard to make money and pay the guys what they deserve to get paid, or what they think they deserve to get paid and to run the business and make it a profitable business.”
So what’s holding him back? The complexities of TV land.
The WEC recently extended its television contract with the Versus network. The UFC, meanwhile, is under an exclusive basic cable contract with the competing Spike TV network. Add to that a potential network TV deal in the works for the UFC, which White has hinted at for months, and three entities are competing for Zuffa’s attention. Ironing out those wrinkles appears to be the likely culprit in keeping the WEC in its current bubble.
It’s an obvious challenge, but White says it’s not insurmountable.
“I’ve got some (expletive) I gotta figure out,” he stated in true Dana White fashion, “But like I said earlier, we’ve had bigger problems. I will figure this out.”
White and co.’s decision appears to be more or less a timetable issue and negotiation between the sibling promotion’s television partners.
In a rather telling exchange at the pre-fight press conference for this weekend’s UFC 102 in Portland, Ore., White was asked about adding more weight classes to the UFC, to which he replied, “If we do any more weight classes, it’s gonna be lower, adding lighter weight classes.”
Asked what the chances of such additions actually were, he replied, “very good,” and indicated that a plausible timeframe for the additions was “probably real soon.”
When pressed as to whether that meant that WEC would basically fold into the UFC, White replied as a Cheshire grin spread across his face, “It doesn’t really mean that, but...”
It really means that.
The official company line, according to White: “What that means is I’ve gotta figure some (expletive) out.”
In a recent article on Yahoo! Sports, Kevin Iole suggested the UFC’s decision to keep the WEC a separate entity from the UFC – fundamentally depriving fighters such as Miguel Torres of the biggest stage in the sport – was “one of the most grievous” mistakes that White and company CEO Lorenzo Fertitta have made in their eight-and-a-half year tenure.
Sitting on the podium in front of a handful of reporters, including Iole, White said, “I don’t disagree with (the) article.”
He added later, “Even with all the things that we know how to do and the deal with have with Versus, which is a great deal, it’s still hard to make money and pay the guys what they deserve to get paid, or what they think they deserve to get paid and to run the business and make it a profitable business.”
So what’s holding him back? The complexities of TV land.
The WEC recently extended its television contract with the Versus network. The UFC, meanwhile, is under an exclusive basic cable contract with the competing Spike TV network. Add to that a potential network TV deal in the works for the UFC, which White has hinted at for months, and three entities are competing for Zuffa’s attention. Ironing out those wrinkles appears to be the likely culprit in keeping the WEC in its current bubble.
It’s an obvious challenge, but White says it’s not insurmountable.
“I’ve got some (expletive) I gotta figure out,” he stated in true Dana White fashion, “But like I said earlier, we’ve had bigger problems. I will figure this out.”