Who’s Number Two?

The WEC and Strikeforce battled head-to-head over the weekend in a match-up of Saturday night events that closely paralleled their on-going war for the number two position in MMA. But did WEC 45 or Strikeforce: Evolution really make a case one way or another for their respective organizations?

WEC 45 was by and large what we’ve all come to expect from the promotion: dynamic, fast-paced, and gutsy MMA that produced a number of stunning performances. Cerrone, Njokuani, Benavidez, and Jorgensen all looked impressive, and have afforded the WEC with options to move forward with in their respective divisions – including a potential striker’s delight match-up between Cerrone and Njokuani at 155.

Strikeforce: Evolution also lived up to the hype as it delivered an exciting and often unpredictable fight card. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and “King Mo” Lawal made their impressive debuts, and look to provide immediate competition in their respective divisions. Moreover, the stellar performances of Thomson and Melendez in the lightweight championship, which was soon thereafter followed by Scott Smith’s stunning come-from-behind victory over Strikeforce poster boy Cung Le, only helped to stamp the evening as a solid success.

Who’s number two?

It probably depends on the criteria that you use.

The WEC is likely going to argue that they generally have stronger gate revenues, own a better television deal, and have been making a solid profit for the last three years. However, Strikeforce is going to argue that a comparison of the last few gates would indicate otherwise, that a mix of Showtime and CBS is superior to Versus, and that the recent, sizable investments they’ve made in their organization are going to lead to future profitability and sustained long-term success greater than that of the WEC.

It’s pretty close. So close, in fact, that you have to ask yourself: if the UFC owns arguably 85-90% of the MMA market, does it really matter whether the WEC owns 6% and Strikeforce owns 4%? Is that enough of a clear difference to declare one a clear-cut number two?

This issue of who is number two is really far less important than the fact that both of these organizations are healthy, and have to ability to continue to provide alternate sources of televised mixed martial arts to hardcore and casual fans. These alternate sources of MMA will prove to be valuable in the growth of mixed martial arts, because they provide a perceived element of competition which helps to spur demand through choice. We’ve seen the effects of this already: people tired of the UFC are jumping on the Strikeforce bandwagon and continuing to follow MMA, where they might have otherwise just abandoned the sport altogether.

That is also, perhaps, the one really strong argument in favor of keeping the WEC separate from the UFC. The smaller, lighter fighters arguably offer a variation of the core MMA product because of their speed and endurance. That variation makes WEC events different enough from UFC events to give consumers another option for consuming MMA.

MMAPayout.com has explored the idea of merging the UFC and WEC in several articles:

Exploring a Possible UFC/WEC Merger
Interview with Reed Harris: Part 1 and Part 2