At the very beginning of 2009 the UFC is going to absorb the 205-lbs and 185-lbs weight divisions from the WEC. This is good news for WEC fighters like Steve Cantwell and Brian Stann, who will almost immediately be put on television for the UFC at Ultimate Fight Night 16: UFC Fights for the Troops. This is seemingly bad news for the WEC, though, who will be left with fighters ranging from 135-170lbs only (4 weight classes and champions). Though they have several exciting champions (Miguel Torres, Urijah Faber, Jaime Varner, and Carlos Condit), their shows will be light and lean and lacking the knockout power most fighters over 170lbs tend to possess. The biggest news of this merger will be WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho entering the UFC ranks. The undefeated Brazilian is a PRIDE veteran with wins over Chael Sonnen, Joe Doerksen, Kazuo Misaki, Ryo Chonan, Ninja Rua, Amar Soloev and Yuki Kondo. "Ely" will immediately become a contender at 185-lbs but the current champion in that weight class is Anderson Silva--his close friend and training partner--who has stated unequivocally that he will never fight Filho.
I dunno, I kind of thought they should have kept those two divisions, but not have a HW. Just because, well 1 the LHW division in the UFC has a lot of depth.
I've always felt Fihlo is a tad over rated and he has not looked that great in the WEC. He's a blanket fighter who gets guys down and lays and prays them until they make a mistake. I think he's going to be severely tested in the UFC and he'll have a loss long before he becomes the obvious #1 contender.
