It’s a first: WEC decides to go PPV

Two title bouts — including Faber vs. Aldo — will highlight April 24 card

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/boxing/2030860,CST-SPT-fite05.article

World Extreme Cagefighting announced this week its first pay-per-view event.

Owned by Zuffa, the same parent company that owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the WEC has always aired for free on Versus.

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Urijah Faber (left, battling Jens Pulver) will take on Jose Aldo in the WEC’s first pay-per-view April 24.
(WEC)

The organization has loaded up the April 24 card with two championship fights to entice fans into shelling out $44.95 to purchase WEC 48. The hugely popular Urijah Faber — fighting in his hometown of Sacramento, Calif. — will try to regain the featherweight title against champion Jose Aldo, a powerful Brazilian who has earned ”Knockout of the Night” honors in three of his last four fights.

WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson will defend his belt against Donald Cerrone, and former featherweight champ Mike Brown faces Manny Gamburyan in another featured bout.

It will be an interesting gamble for the WEC — lucrative if it can pay off. But it also comes during a stretch of four Zuffa pay-per-views in eight weeks. Even if fight fans pool their funds, that’s a lot of money to fork over. And if you throw the UFC’s first event on Versus (March 21), a UFC Fight Night (March 31) and Strikeforce’s return on CBS (possibly April 17), the spring will bring plenty of excitement for MMA fans.

UFC’s Super Bowl card

Traditionally, Super Bowl weekend always bring exciting fight cards from the UFC. While there isn’t a title fight at UFC 109, it is filled with solid fights.

In the main event, 46-year-old Randy Couture takes on 45-year-old Mark Coleman. It marks the first time that two current UFC hall of famers have fought each other. Couture joked the Las Vegas event should be switched from Mandalay Bay to Caesars Palace and promote the fight as the ”Geezers at Caesars.” Both fighters say that, barring major injury, this is not their final fight.

”I think win or lose, Mark and I both have a lot to contribute to the sport, and I don’t think this is a make or break fight,” Couture said. ”We both have a lot of competitive spirit left in us — so I know every time Mark and I fight, they’re going to judge us, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, he’s slowing down; oh, we maybe should think about retiring.’ I’ve been dealing with that six or eight years now, so that’s nothing new.”

The co-main event will feature middleweights Nate Marquardt against Chael Sonnen. Also, welterweight Mike Swick faces Paulo Thiago on the main card.

Before the pay-per-view broadcast begins at 9 p.m., Spike will air a pair of lightweight preliminaries at 8. Scheduled to air are Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz and Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres.

Herschel Walker reax

Reaction to Herschel Walker’s successful debut was mixed. Many hard-core MMA fans were underwhelmed by the former Heisman Trophy winner’s third-round stoppage. I’m not sure what those critics were expecting. Walker repeatedly called himself a ”green fighter” and admitted he was a work-in-progress.

He used his athleticism to overwhelm Greg Nagy, and displayed excellent takedown defense. But you could see his inexperience when he couldn’t quite finish the fight quicker than he did. He said this week he wants to continue to fight, possibly even as early as Strikeforce’s event in April.

The locals

Chicago’s Rory Markham will be back at the Octagon on the preliminary card at UFC 111 on March 27. The Pat Miletich-trained fighter will face former TUF champion Nate Diaz, who will be moving up a weight class to the 170-pound welterweight division. He was slated to fight Martin Kampmann at UFC 108, but a knee injury forced him to withdraw.

Counter programming

On Sunday, if the Big Game fails to live up to its hype, the WEC provides a marathon to satisfy anyone’s MMA fix. Starting at 6 p.m., Versus will have five hours featuring Faber’s most memorable matches — including both of his losses to Brown, wins against Jens Pulver and his most recent fight against Raphael Assuncao.

Will you purchase the WEC PPV?