WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki - the penultimate event

WEC 53 will be the the end of the line - after that, all the talent will be merged into the UFC.

They're going out on a pair of high notes.

Faber vs. Mizugaki on November 11th is supported by:

Josh Grispi vs. Erik Koch
Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano
Chad Mendes vs. Javier Vazquez
Damacio Page vs. Demetrious Johnson

with a preliminary card featuring Njokuani, Swanson, Assuncao, and Jabouin.

Then on December 16th there is a dynamite double-header pitting Ben Henderson against the hot Anthony Pettis, and Dominick Cruz against worthy contender Scott Jorgensen (with Palaszewski vs. Shalorus rumored).

I will miss this promotion.

 

I am not and will not be a UFC consumer, so this pretty much means the end of my seeing talents like Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz in Hi-Def on my TV.

I don't buy UFC PPV on principle, and am not about to start just because they're integrating some of my favorite lower-weight talents. Paying for Aldo-Faber was one thing (and if WEC had remained separate and gone the PPV route, I might have considered regular purchases) but not a dime of mine is going to be spent on cards that include heavyweights.

This just means that in order to see these fighters I'll have to watch them on crappy, choppy little feeds as usual with the UFC (for events that even warrant that much effort - some are skipped altogether, or until highlights show up on youtube).

I did just buy the "Best of WEC" DVD for $10 - it's all the top matches from 2008 and 2009. That should tide me over for a while after 52 & 53. Then after a while we'll have season 4 of Bellator. :happy

 

My guess is that since they own the rights to the whole WEC brand including the library, Zuffa will continue to air replays of classic matches on VS. The great thing is that there have been so many memorable ones that they'll still fetch good ratings by packaging together, say, Cerrone-Henderson I with Torres-Mizugaki.

They've been showing a lot of old WEC in the last week leading up to #52 (more than normal). Hopefully the trend continues.

Speaking of #52...it's in just a few hours!

 

It's in three hours. (so 2am GMT)

 

You definitely want to catch the main event this time around. :good

Oh - and Koch is no longer facing Grispi. The substitute is heavy-handed 5-0 Francisco Rivera.