Mike Brown surprised by WEC-UFC merger, might fight on WEC’s last card
The stunning merger announcement last week between the Ultimate Fighting Championships and World Extreme Cagefighting took most fans in the mixed martial arts world by surprise. But it wasn’t just fans -
former WEC featherweight (145lb) champion Mike Brown said he was as taken aback by the statement as anybody.
"[The WEC] kept it hidden very well. Usually you hear the rumors and stuff starts to pop up, but I didn't hear anything until - boom! It was all over the Internet and my friends were calling me and telling
me," Brown told Ariel Helwani, the host of mmafighting.com’s the MMA Hour.
The merger will add two new weight classes to the UFC, featherweight and bantamweight (135lb.)
Previously, lighter-weight fighters didn’t have the chance to perform in the world’s largest MMA promotion, instead having to fight in front of smaller audiences for smaller paydays. But many in the MMA
community are hoping that fighting in the UFC will give featherweights and bantamweights a greater opportunity for stardom.
"It's new motivation. It's new excitement," said Brown. "I can't wait. So happy. It'll have been seven years for me to get back into the UFC."
Brown’s UFC career had lasted all of 91 seconds, succumbing to a Genki Sudo submission in his only fight. After several more fights in other promotions, Brown went the way of many other unsuccessful UFC lightweights,
dropping down to featherweight and entering the WEC. Brown captured the title after a stunning knockout of Urijah Faber in 2008, and defended it twice successfully before losing it.
Brown is now eyeing a fight on the WEC’s last ever card, WEC 53 which takes place 16 December.
"I'm pushing [for a WEC 53 fight].
"I just want to get it going, I just want to stay active. And [the WEC] are always good, they always find something for me."
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