World Extreme Cage Fighting
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion |
| Fate | Merged with Ultimate Fighting Championship |
| Successor | Ultimate Fighting Championship |
| Founded | June 30, 2001 |
| Defunct | December 16, 2010 |
|
Key people
|
Scott Adams and Reed Harris |
| Parent | WME-IMG |
| Website | http://www.wec.tv |
World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 2001. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was made up of 3 weight classes: 135 lb (61 kg), 145 lb (66 kg) and 155 lb (70 kg). To accommodate the smaller fighters, WEC's cage was 25 feet (7.6 m) in diameter—5 feet (1.5 m) smaller than the standard UFC cage.
Scott Adams and Reed Harris started the organization in 2001. Between 2001 and 2006, most of their events were held at Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California, and aired on HDNet.
In December 2006, Zuffa purchased WEC. With the purchase, WEC continued as a separate promotion with its own roster of fighters. Adams was retained after the purchase as the organization's matchmaker. Harris and Adams were named co-General Managers and were both active in the new WEC. In 2008, Sean Shelby was named the new match-maker for the promotion by Zuffa.
Zuffa made several changes to the promotion after the purchase. It discontinued its pentagonal cage for a modified version of the UFC's octagonal cage. The championships of fighters who were contracted UFC fighters were vacated. The promotion moved to focus on lighter weight classes, abandoning their heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions and championships, and retaining their bantamweight and featherweight divisions—two divisions not then present in the UFC. After the purchase, several WEC events were held in Zuffa's hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, much like the UFC.
WEC aired their events live on Versus (formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network and now as the NBC Sports Network) in the United States and on TSN (and later The Score) in Canada. WEC's first live event was broadcast on June 3, 2007 on Versus from The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
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