Reed Harris Talks About WEC Merger

Added on Nov 02, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

Reed Harris finally broke his silence about the WEC/UFC merger in an interview with MMAjunkie. When you hear him talk about it he sounds like a proud father who is sending his son out into the world. He has a lot to be proud about too, as he took the WEC from a small organization in 2001, all the way up to the biggest promotion in the world.

Harris said “When I started the WEC, we thought we’d maybe do one show, To be sitting here today and have something that I was involved in become part of the biggest sports company in the world is very satisfying. It’s kind of like when your kids go to college. At first, you’re concerned, but then after they leave, it’s pretty great.”

Those of us who remember what mixed martial arts was in 2001 understand the risks people like Reed Harris were taking. So to watch someone like Harris come all the way up from small shows in Lemoore, California to the largest MMA stage on the planet, is fantastic to see. “This is something we’ve been planning for a while,” Harris said. “The way we talked about it when we did the planning was that our fights were so good and so dynamic that these guys had to get on the big stage and open this up to all the MMA fans in the world. There’s no bigger stage than the UFC. Everybody is really, really excited about it. I think the fighters are going to be as excited as we are, and it’s just going to be great for everyone involved.”

The WEC has also had a real eye for talent. When you look at some of the fighters that have come grown up in the WEC. “All along, our goal was to really build and have people identify with the lighter-weight fighters,” He said. “We worked really hard on that, and like (UFC president) Dana White said, it’s just time with the expansion of the UFC and expanding into international markets.”

One of the more interesting things Reed Harris talked about was the one thing no one has questioned the WEC about. “The thing that I’m most proud of is that no one has argued with me that these guys aren’t ready to go to that next level, Everyone is saying Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber, Dominick Cruz, all these guys are ready to show their skills on the world’s biggest stage, which is the UFC.”

Now that we are hearing that some WEC fighters will be on UFC cards before the January UFC 125 card, some people are thinking that the WEC has already closed up shop. However, they have still have 2 shows left with the organization. “In November, we’ve got Takeya Mizugaki fighting Urijah Faber at WEC 52, and obviously that’s a fight that has title implications at some point in the future, and now those implications are for the UFC title. We’ve got two title fights in December at WEC 53.”

The other question everyone seems to be asking Harris is what exactly will his new role be with the WEC? “At this point, I’m not able to discuss my role, because we’re going to focus on November and December.”

He concluded the interview by saying “The WEC was literally so successful that there was no other option but to move it into the UFC and expand this huge sports brand that is the UFC, I’m can’t wait for UFC fans to witness the action we’ve had for years in the WEC. As anyone who has watched these lighter-weight fighters will tell you, when these guys step into the cage, they let it fly.”