World Extreme Cagefighting has officially pared down from six weight classes to four.
The organization, a sister company to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, today announced the long-rumored elimination of its middleweight (185-pound) and light heavyweight (205) divisions.
Beginning in 2009, the WEC will focus solely on the bantamweight (135), featherweight (145), lightweight (155) and welterweight (170) weight classes.
A Dec. 3 event, which will feature a WEC bantamweight title fight between Miguel Torres and undefeated challenger Manny Tapia that was officially announced today, will be the organization's final event with the six weight classes.
The elimination of the 185-pound and 205-pound weight classes had been in the works for most of 2008. In August, UFC President Dana White told taggradio.com, the official radio partner of
mmajunkie.com, that the process was already underway to eliminate the divisions.
The WEC has long struggled to stock the two divisions, and the UFC had no interest in depleting its own divisions to stock the WEC's.
The WEC's light-heavyweight division offers some decent prospects in current WEC title-holder Steve Cantwell and former champ Brian Stann. However, neither is likely to make much of an immediate impact in the UFC's stacked 205-pound division.
On the other hand, a couple of the WEC's 185-pounders could make some waves in the UFC. Current WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho is generally considered one of the world's top five 185-pounders. Top contender Chael Sonnen could also make an impact in the division and provide some interesting match-ups with established UFC middleweights.
Filho and Sonnen are scheduled to meet at the WEC's recently rescheduled event, which takes place Nov. 5 in Florida.
