UFC-WEC Merger: The Solution To the 'Weak Card' Virus in the UFC

Ladies and gentlemen of the MMA Nation, as you are aware, to be an MMA fan in any respect means giving respect to the organization who brought the sport to where it is today, which everyone knows to be the UFC.

As tends to be the case with even Strikeforce, Bellator, DREAM, Deep, and other MMA promotions cards, however, the UFC has been no stranger to an unfortunate epidemic that has had a tendency to plague the sport from time to time.

I could only be referring to the WCV -- that is, the "Weak Card" Virus.

What happens when a company gets the occasional bite from the "Weak Card" bug is that the company responsible for the event-in-question loads a fight card with some mid-tier-at-best talent, along with a few elitists and a double main event that is potentially the fight that draws in the viewers watching the pay-per-view.

Sounds like the key to an actually solid pay-per-view, right?

Well, not always.

See, sometimes the fights are good except for they don't end the way you hope, as had to be the case when Kenny Florian faced Gray Maynard at UFC 118.

In other cases, like the UFC 112 and UFC 119 cards, the cards are either stacked or at least promising in some format and are thought to turn out as such until something somehow manages to damage the overall crowd reception of the PPV.

In UFC 112's case, it was a tri-combination of a clash-of-legends that ended later than it should have, a shaky judge score of 50-45 that ended the fight for a new UFC Lightweight Champion, and a for-PPV-only discovery of a 25-minute audition for ABC's Dancing With The Stars.

In UFC 119's case. the problem was a blend of two guys saying they wanted to fight each other but not fighting like such, a return of a former Lightweight Champ that many actually felt should have gone to his opponent, an OK-to-fair-at-best clash of a legend and a prospect, and a three-round stall-fest that serves as the night's only ending by KO -- and still manages to not get "KO Of The Night".

With such a bad epidemic plaguing the largest MMA organization in the world, what could prove to be the vaccine  -- the cure, per se -- of this virus that sees promising cards go down in a disappointing way?

The answer lies in Dana White's announcement last night about the long-awaited UFC-WEC merger.

To loosen up a tight bear-hug on the genitalia of World Extreme Cagefighting, the sister company of the UFC has put on cards that have not only had no failures besides failing to put on a lackluster night of fights, but they've also delivered cards that I believe have saved fans from nearly abandoning the sport on more than one occasion.

After UFC 112 and Strikeforce: Nashville, fans were displeased with the way the month of April was turning out and needed an exciting night of fights to turn their negative opinions into positive thoughts about the sport of MMA.

From the Spike TV prelims to the last minute of the Jose Aldo-Urijah Faber bout, WEC 48 did everything it set out to do and didn't disappoint.

After UFC 119, the same problem occurred.

Then, WEC 51 rolled around five days later, and what did we get?

An exciting Mark Hominick-Leonard Garcia fight, George Roop knocking out Chan Sung Jung, Miguel Angel Torres submitting Charlie Valencia, Jaime Varner and Donald Cerrone giving each other hell for three rounds, and a second round finish of Manny Gamburyan from Jose Aldo.

Whether you support or oppose the merger, you can't deny the the WEC's talent pool does bring it every time they see action on a card regardless of whether or not the PPV-watching crowd sees them on the live broadcast or not.

With the news of a merger becoming a reality for sure at this point, one has to think that despite a card akin to UFC 119's card being inevitable, this merger can deliver some bit of a saving grace to a potentially-promising-yet-lackluster type of card.

I mean, when was the last time you could honestly say a Featherweight fight or a Bantamweight fight in the WEC sucked?

Exactly.

You couldn't ever do it because the lighter weight fighters are always somehow bringing the excitement to the cage.

Whereas crowds may not be familiar with any WEC-turned-UFC lighter weight outside of Jose Aldo, the UFC should have no problem establishing these guys as big deals before fans actually see them in action.

In any event, the establishment of a UFC Featherweight division and a resurgence-of-sorts for a UFC Bantamweight division could mean big things for both the UFC and the stars of the WEC.

Give it a little bit of time, and before we know it, we may see a shortage and possibly even a near-scarcity of weak event cards in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.