Dana White Rules Out New Weight Classes for UFC

The UFC are planning to restructure the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) to make it the place to see the best of the lower weight categories.

Prior to UFC 83: Serra vs St Pierre 2, UFC President Dana White was asked, at a UFC Fight Club at a question-and-answer session, if his promotion planned to bring in a 145 pound weight class. He responded:

"That's why we bought the WEC.

We're going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC will be the heavier weights. We'll probably take some of the guys in the higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into UFC. We're still trying to figure that out."

The WEC has built its reputation by showcasing the lower weight categories.

World Extreme Cagefighting features 135-(bantamweight) and 145-pound (featherweight) weight classes as well as 155, 170, 185 and 205. There are no really big stars in the higher weight classes - so folding them and transferring the fighters to the UFC will have little or no impact on the senior promotion.

Some people may be surprised by the move. In recent times - the lightweight division has been a place to see exciting fights at UFC events. It is also stacked with personalities - such as BJ Penn and Sean Sherk. In contrast, the Heavyweight division of the UFC is arguably the weakest of the bunch. The biggest names in the weight class are not signed to the UFC, and recent fights with title significance have been comparatively dull.

UFC 83: Serra vs St Pierre 2 was a huge success for the UFC. A huge, highly enthusiastic crowd packed the Bell Center in Montreal. Not surprisingly - the UFC plan to return. White told the fans

"After this event, I'd come here every weekend if I could. Believe me; we’ll be back.

"Everywhere I go, it doesn't matter if we do a fight in Houston, Texas, Anaheim, California, if we do fights over in the U.K., so many Canadians show up, it blows my mind. We never expected this thing to be this big in Canada. Not only are there a ton of fans, but there's a ton of great talent coming out of Canada. Canada is going to be a part of our road show from here on out."

Dana also took the chance to have a swipe at one of his regular targets. To most fans, Fedor Emelianenko is one the greatest fighters in the world. Despite his inactivity and lack of challenging opposition recently, many observers rank him the number one guy in the world pound for pound. The UFC have not been able to come up with a deal big enough to tempt the Russian into the octagon - and White feels he is over rated.

"The guy hasn't fought anybody since 2005 and people want to call him the pound-for-pound best in the world? Give the respect to the guys who deserve it. The guys who come in and fight everybody three times a year, they fight the best fighters in the world. (UFC Middleweight champion) Anderson Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. End of story."