Another divisional shake up appears to be on the horizon for Zuffa owned World Extreme Cagefighting. Several sources have indicated that the promotion will soon disband its 170-pound weight class. The first indication of the latest restructuring is a title fight between WEC champion Carlos Condit and challenger Brock Larson being scrapped from the upcoming WEC 39 event on March 1 in Texas.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com first reported the news on Tuesday, with several sources close to the situation confirming the news to MMAWeekly.com as well.
There has been no official confirmation as to who Condit could fight in his first UFC match-up, but there has been speculation that new welterweight Martin Kampmann could be the fighter called upon to face the Arizona Combat Sports standout.
Larson is also expected to make the move to the UFC, although there has been no information regarding a possible date or opponent for his return. Larson is 1-1 in his past UFC bouts. He lost his first go around to Jon Fitch, but defeated Keita Nakamura at UFC Fight Night 7.
There had been confusion about the initial reason for cancelling the Condit vs. Larson bout. Early reports had put Larson out due to injury before MMAWeekly.com reported no injuries to either fighter.
Late this evening, multiple sources confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that there was an injury causing the cancellation of the bout for WEC 39, but it was to Condit. Apparently, he has suffered a sprained wrist that will slow him down for four weeks or so, leaving the WEC to scramble and find a replacement for its co-main event for March 1 debut in the Lone Star State.
Several managers were contacted about the possible dissolution of the WEC's welterweight division, but there had been no official word from the promotion at the time of publication about the move. It is still unclear if the entire division will be dissolved, but moving the promotion's champion over to the UFC would seem to be a strong indicator of such.
There are still two welterweight bouts scheduled for WEC 39 – Johny Hendricks vs. Alex Serdyukov and Justin Haskins vs. Douglas Lima – but that wouldn't be out of character for the WEC. The promotion still held a couple of middleweight and light heavyweight bouts, including a light heavyweight title fight, after the dissolution of those two divisions was announced late last year.
MMAWeekly.com sources close to the WEC in early January revealed that the promotion is adding a 125-pound flyweight division soon. There had been speculation that WEC 39 could host the emergence of the flyweight division, but that now seems more like a possibility for WEC 40 in Chicago.
If the WEC welterweight division does meet its demise, that would leave only the 155-pound lightweight class as the only crossover category between the WEC and the UFC.
Stay tuned to MMAWeekly.com for more information on this story as it becomes available.
