World Extreme Cagefighting

World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. It is the sister promotion to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), both owned and produced by Zuffa, with a focus on lighter weight classes. The WEC uses the same rules as its older and much larger sibling, but holds its matches in a smaller octagonal cage.

History

The organization was started in 2001 by Scott Adams and Reed Harris. Between 2001 and 2006, most of their events were held in Lemoore, California and aired on HDNet.

In December 2006, Zuffa purchased the WEC. With the purchase, the WEC continues as a separate promotion with its own roster of fighters. Adams has been retained after the purchase as the organization's matchmaker. Harris and Adams were named co-General Managers and are both active in the new WEC.cite web
url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3053
title=UFC Buying World Extreme Cagefighting
author=Ken Pishna, Ivan Trembow
date=December 11, 2006
publisher= [http://www.mmaweekly.com MMAWeekly] ]

Zuffa made several changes to the promotion after the purchase. It discontinued its pentagonal cage for a modified version of the UFC's octagonal arena. The championships of fighters who were contracted UFC fighters were vacated. The promotion moved to focus on lighter weight classes, abandoning their heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions and championships, and retaining their bantamweight and featherweight divisions—two divisions not currently present in the UFC.cite web
url=http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=6478
title=The Savage Truth: When is a Loss a Win?
last=Savage
first=Greg
date=January 4, 2007
publisher=Sherdog] Since the purchase, most of the WEC events have been held in Zuffa's hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The WEC currently airs their events live on Versus, formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network and on The Sports Network in Canada. cite web
url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3186&zoneid=13
title=UFC on HBO; WEC on Versus
last=Pishna
first=Ken
date=December 28, 2006
publisher= [http://www.mmaweekly.com MMAWeekly] ] WEC's first live event was broadcast on June 3, 2007 on Versus from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The WEC announced that it will dissolve their light heavyweight and middleweight divisions after their December 3 2008 event to further their concentration on lighter classes. [cite news|url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=7206&zoneid=2|title=WEC SHUTS DOWN 205 & 185-POUND WEIGHT CLASSES|first=Damon|last=Martin|work=MMAWeekly.com|date=2008-08-26|accessdate=2008-08-26]

Current champions

ee also

*List of WEC Events
*List of WEC Champions

References

External links

* [http://www.wec.tv Official website]
* [http://xtrmforum.proboards56.com/ WEC Message Board]