In a press conference Thursday, UFC President Dana White confirmed that his mixed martial arts promotion will be absorbing the weight classes from its sister promotion World Extreme Cagefighting in 2011.
The Zuffa-owned promotion, which is billed as the premiere league for the 135 and 145 pound weight classes, will run its last shows on November 11 and December 16. At that point, fighters from those two weight classes, as well as WEC’s 155 pound weight class, will be rolled onto the UFC roster as WEC ceases operations.
“There is no WEC, those weight classes are going to roll into the UFC now,” said White, who added that all of the promotion’s employees and fighters will ideally roll into the UFC.
White confirmed that Jose Aldo and the winner of the Dominick Cruz-Scott Jorgensen title fight will be recognized as the undisputed UFC Featherweight and UFC Bantamweight champions, respectively. Meanwhile, the winner of the Ben Henderson-Anthony Pettis lightweight fight will receive an immediate shot against the winner of the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard fight to become the undisputed lightweight champion.
With WEC out of the picture, UFC’s television deal on the Versus Network will expand to four shows next year.
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