Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

I seen that Anthony Pettis said WEC had better lightweights. And now lookin back i gotta agree. Benson was in WEC and came to the UFC and started dominating UFC guys. Pettis is doing the same thing, Cerrone as well. Just thought i would see what you guys thought about it.

Im talking about the time frame of the merger. Not when BJ Penn was dominating in sight lol.

UFC or WEC

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

WECs focus was the smaller guys like aldo, pettis, cruz, faber and so on and living of that.
So yes they had the better guys at LW and down thanks to that

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

You have to give it to the UFC for depth, but the top WEC guys have proven to be superior/on par with the top UFC guys.

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

The thing is ...............

The WEC had prospects, not established top fighters, Pettis, Cerrone and Henderson in there WEC days were all "prospects", lets not forget Jamie Varner was the champion, and he beat Rob McCulloch for that title

My answer to your question is unequivocally the UFC, Penn, Sherk, Florian with an underbelly of Maynard, Guida, Edgar ............ and the list goes on, Henderson, Cerrone and Pettis have developed because they are now in mainstream top competition, if any of them 3 (at that time) would have fought any of the top 8 in the UFC they would of had a tough night!

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

In time they have yes, at the time no!

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

The WEC produced exciting fights, but all of those fighters are now better and in The UFC :deal Some are FWs, etc.

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

Well, I think both Bendo and Pettis, at the time of their fight, would have at least been competitive against any UFC LW.

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

Competitive or better?

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

Real fans know that Strikeforce could rival the UFC for HW and fighters in general but lacking the same depth. Likewise, real fans knew that the WEC had a number of tasty fighters that could easily compete in the UFC - Aldo, Henderson, Pettis, Cerone etc

Who is better is a difficult question. Henderson is the champ and Pettis/Cerrone will determine the next contender. On the flipside I think Henderson lost his last fight to Edgar and Diaz beat the fuck out of Cerrone while Guida bum fucked Pettis.

Our only question should always be who is the champion by way of beating the best fighters out there. At present that is Benson Henderson.

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

impossible to say, as styles makes fights.

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

Really?

One or two good fighters per division and that can somehow rival a whole division of established champions, former champions, former title contenders, prospects and gatekeepers?

I really don't see how

Re: Who had better lightweights WEC or UFC before the merger?
 

I said the HW division and then fighters in general. The HW division had Overeem, Werdum, Cormier, Barnett, Silva etc In general I meant Shields, Diaz, Melendez etc