World Extreme Cagefighting champions
Steve Cantwell and
Paulo Filho
will find themselves in the deeper waters of the UFC. Both titleholders
will likely be relegated to the UFC’s light heavyweight and
middleweight divisions with the WEC’s announcement Friday to dissolve
the weight classes in 2009.
The WEC will continue to host bouts in the bantamweight,
featherweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions. The WEC, which
is owned by Zuffa LLC, parent company to the UFC, enjoys a healthy
broadcast contract with the Versus channel, a sports-centric cable
network.
Talks of dropping the two divisions to focus on the lighter weight classes have been ongoing.
"We're going to make the WEC the smaller weights and the UFC
will be the heavier weights,” UFC President Dana White told The
Canadian Press last April. “We'll probably take some of the guys in the
higher weights, the champions over there and bring them into the UFC.
We're still trying to figure that out."
Zuffa doesn't seem to be resting on its laurels with the
decision. MMAWeekly.com reported Friday that Cantwell and Stann will
have their rubber match at UFC "Fight for the Troops" Dec. 10 at Fort
Bragg in North Carolina. The live Spike TV event will donate proceeds
to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a not-for-profit organization that
provides financial support to the families of deceased and severely
wounded military veterans.
A resident of Las Vegas, Cantwell (6-1) wrested the light
heavyweight accolade away from former champion and U.S. Marine Corps
officer
Brian Stann (6-1) by second-round TKO in a heated rematch last August. Their first contest ended in only 41 seconds in Stann's favor.
Filho (16-0), a former Pride Fighting Championships star, has defended
his middleweight title once. In December 2007, he earned a
controversial second-round verbal submission over Team Quest’s
Chael Sonnen. The pair is set to rematch at WEC 36 on Nov. 5 in Hollywood, Fla.
“I’m furious to hear the news. I’m returning to BodogFight immediately,” Sonnen joked Friday.
WEC officials could not be initially reached for comment.