Was The WEC UFC's Best Purchase?

[Lucifer Alpha]

WEC = three UFC champions and one interim champion (not counting 125-145).
Strikeforce = one UFC champion and one interim champion.
Pride = one UFC champion.
WFA = two UFC champions.

 

[bjdiaz]

WEC = three UFC champions and one interim champion (not counting 125-145).
Strikeforce = one UFC champion and one interim champion.
Pride = one UFC champion and one interim champion(big nog).
WFA = two UFC champions.

Fixed

 

[pick999]

yeah they pay that aldo guy 200k when he should be making 600k a fight

 

[locust rising]

I think so. LW has been awesome and Aldo has proven to be one if the best ever.

 

[bearVSshark]

Strikeforce - DC, Reem, Le, Rousey and women, Gil, and the return of Werdum, Hendo and Diaz.

WEC - Aldo, Cruz, MM, Pettis, Benson, Barao, Faber, Mendes, KZ, ect. I could go on...

PRIDE - Nogs, Wand, Shogun, Hendo, Gomi, Crocop, among many more.

pride in 07
WEC in 09? I believe
Strikeforce in 2011 I believe?


I'd pick WEC on the overall best fighters coming into the UFC at the time. PRIDE had the huge names in MMA but they most were on the decline. Strikeforce really only had Ronda and DC as the 2 biggest stars. More so Ronda.

diffs bought and operated wec in 06 or 07 I think, but yr right folded into ufc in late 10. I think the heavier guys came before the lighter weights

 

[FC PRIDE]

I think it was, a lot of good talent from that org. Pride has been a huge disappointment though. I think Rampage is the only one that saw some success.

Shogun? Big Nog? Heard of those guys!

WEC was the best in terms actually being able to run it as a business but the lower weight classes are not the money weight classes in the UFC. It did however have a big impact on one division, namely lightweight. One of the main reasons we have the stacked LW division now is was the only crossover division there was when WEC was absorbed into the UFC so in a way I guess it could be. Not forgetting the Strikforce talent that came over.I guess we have to wait and see how things pan out for these Strikeforce guys before we can say for sure.

 

[Kingz]

My memory may be getting fuzzy on the WEC purchase, but they didn't become what they were until after Zuffa bought them and built them as a showcase for lighter weights. From what i remember they were just a regional show that had fighters walk right in and walk right out before UFC purchased them, i could be getting the timeline mixed up though.

If we're talking about the merger on, possibly. Strikeforce brought a lot of depth to HW, LHW, MW, WW, and LW. The thing about PRIDE is a lot of those guys had been fighting in PRIDE at the highest level for years and years, i know zombies don't want to admit it but a lot of those guys were past their prime already and still saw success(Shogun and Big Nog won gold despite being past their peaks IMO) and even now there is Barnett, Hunt, Werdum(PRIDE and Strikeforce) kicking ass.

 

[Insaniteus]

People forget that a LOT of Pride guys were acquired by the UFC before Zuffa bought Pride. Rampage, Nog, and CC were bought earlier. And then there are people from Pride that were not acquired at all when they bought Pride, such as Gomi, Barnett, and obviously Fedor.

The Pride purchase turned out to be not worth the money, because Zuffa didn't get half of what they wanted from it. WEC and Strikeforce were much bigger. WEC has to be #1, it's spawned many huge stars and numerous champions.

 

[MagnusGOAT]

Worst purchase for the fans and athletes.

Maybe we could have had another really big org with not much overlapping when compared to Pride/SF.



And actually defended it.

Nog was also interim champ.

And most of today's WEC guys weren't fighting in 2002/3 ffs.

Shogun didn't defend it...

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Do people seriously forget Shogun Won the title?

My first thought as well.

Still, the WEC was a great org and a great acquisition by Zuffa.

 

[SocraticMethod]

Strikeforce - DC, Reem, Le, Rousey and women, Gil, and the return of Werdum, Hendo and Diaz.

WEC - Aldo, Cruz, MM, Pettis, Benson, Barao, Faber, Mendes, KZ, ect. I could go on...

PRIDE - Nogs, Wand, Shogun, Hendo, Gomi, Crocop, among many more.

pride in 07
WEC in 09? I believe
Strikeforce in 2011 I believe?


I'd pick WEC on the overall best fighters coming into the UFC at the time. PRIDE had the huge names in MMA but they most were on the decline. Strikeforce really only had Ronda and DC as the 2 biggest stars. More so Ronda.

I mostly agree with this. If your definition of "best purchase" has to do with current fighters still going strong today, it's between WEC and SF. If you're talking "star power" it's between SF and Pride.

One advantage WEC and SF have in the debate is that the UFC operated them before absorbing them, which they didn't do with Pride. So in addition to the SF guys currently in the UFC, the UFC also got the benefit of running SF shows before the merger. So, while the UFC never got Fedor after buying Pride, they did run one SF show featuring Fedor (the Hendo fight). I believe they also ran the second half of the HW Grand Prix after the purchase, the epic Diaz/Daley fight, the first Rousey/Tate fight, etc.

My timing could be off, though.

 

[Rational Poster]

Also...

Imagine if in shape Hendricks was ever in a title fight.

 

[Matthew Fedler]

I thought WFA brought in Rampage, Lyoto and Faber to WEC? Anyone else?

 

[Lucifer Alpha]

My memory may be getting fuzzy on the WEC purchase, but they didn't become what they were until after Zuffa bought them and built them as a showcase for lighter weights. From what i remember they were just a regional show that had fighters walk right in and walk right out before UFC purchased them, i could be getting the timeline mixed up though.

They were Tachi Palace Fights.