With UFC Injuries, Is It Time to Call Up the WEC?

It has been a very tough month for UFC President Dana White and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, who have watched a rash of injuries and illnesses that have sidelined several of the league's key fighters.

Just a month away from his first defense as the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight champion, both the champion Brock Lesnar and the challenger Shane Carwin fell ill. Lesnar has a nasty case of mono, and Carwin fell to the H1N1 virus.

Just days after his epic match with Shogun Rua, with a rematch already on the books, UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Lyoto Machida went into surgery for a broken hand, and has been sidelined for several weeks.

And just weeks after getting his next victim named, Pound-For-Pound Elite and UFC Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva went into surgery for his elbow, again, taking him out of action for sometime.

And last night, Georges St. Pierre's next challenger was named, but a match has yet to be name because GSP has been out with a groin injury he tweaked during his dominate win over Thiago Alves. And even when he returns, Dan Hardy hardly presents a serious challenge to the Pound-For-Pound stand out.

Along with these champions, a number of top contenders are out for several reasons, including just recently Big Nogueira with a staph infection, Dan Henderson in contract talks and Rampage Jackson taking a leave to film a movie.

The result is that the UFC has a shortage of fighters, and more importantly, champions in the coming future. B.J. Penn is set to defend his belt in December, but there is no other UFC title defense in the foreseeable future.

While for hardcore fans this isn't a huge problem because this just means under the radar fighters might get more air time, this a huge problem for Zuffa in terms of views and money.

But the solution is already in the Zuffa family, the WEC with their absolutely stacked Lightweight, Featherweight, and Bantamweight divisions. There is fantastic talent in the WEC, and on every card they turn out there are just fantastic fights on that blue canvas.

Merging the WEC with the UFC and bringing these smaller fighters to the big stage could create excitement for a promotion facing a tough stretch. There are several fight possibilities that would be available in the next few months that could be very exciting.

Mike Thomas Brown defending his belt against the explosive Jose Aldo takes place this weekend, and what better way to bring the Featherweights to the UFC with the winner of Brown/Aldo possibly facing the former champion Urijiah Faber.

The WEC Lightweight Champion Jamie Varner is about to defend his belt against wrestling ace Ben Henderson, just a few weeks after B.J. Penn defends his title. The timing is perfect for a belt unification match, pitting the UFC champ against the WEC champion.

And then, of course, this is the likely rematch of Bantamweight champion Brian Bowles against one of the best fighters in the world, Miguel Torres.

Bowles landed a KO hook to Torres' temple in a back-and-forth match, where both fighters were rocked at times. Torres, already one of the Pound-For-Pound elites, has completely revamped his training, and is looking for another run as champion.

This merger also helps the UFC not just in the short run, but would be a long term benefit, because it gives Dana White and Joe Silva more weight classes, and greater talent depth to work with when creating cards. One problem the UFC has been faced with has been the "down" cards after a run of excellent cards, that feature no title matches and no top contenders.

The addition of the WEC talent pool provides the UFC with two more champions mix into their plans along with a number of contenders to play with. The result would better, more consistent cards so the UFC would have to, as suggested by some, cut down the number of PPVs they host per year.

It also does the fighters in the WEC justice, who are just as talented as their Zuffa brethren in the UFC, but there is a huge paycheck gap between the two promotions.

Fighters like Torres, Brown, Aldo, Bowles, and Faber deserve the kind of recognition and paydays that the other champions and contenders receive.