Today Dana White announced that the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) will be merging with the UFC in January 2011.

The main goal is to incorporate the 3 lowest weight divisions into the UFC, with new bantam- and featherweight champions and a unified lightweight champion. Currently the WEC champions are Dominic Cruz in the bantamweight division, Jose Aldo in the featherweight division and Ben Henderson in the lightweight division.

While Jose Aldo will most likely become UFC champion by default, Ben Henderson will have to fight the winner of the UFC 125 bout between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard to unify the lightweight title. As for Dominick Cruz, he has to defend his title against Scott Jorgensen at WEC 53, before he can become UFC champion.

There are however 2 more WEC events before this merger takes place. WEC 52 (November 11, 2010) and WEC 53 (December 16, 2010). According to Dana White this has been coming for quite some time now, but they just haven't felt the timing was right until now.

White also announced that four UFC events in 2011 will air on Versus, the current home of the WEC.

As a fan and follower I have mixed feelings about this merge. I loved the WEC and i always thought the speed and technique of the smaller guys was incredibly entertaining. Of course this won't change just because they fight under the UFC banner, but merging the two organizations into one, probably won't mean the number of fights per card is doubled, so does this mean less fights to watch for us fans? I will contain my skepticism until more details are out.

On the other hand, it must be great for the lighter guys to be able to compete for the UFC titles. A UFC title simply carries a lot more weight for the average MMA fan, than a WEC title does. So the bantam and featherweight guys from WEC will finally be getting the recognition they deserve  from mainstream fans.

Either way, if you love watching these guys fight in the WEC, you will still love watching them under the UFC banner.