No WEC, no problem; Dana White says missing logo all part of master plan
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – As the WEC's first-ever pay-per-view event draws near, the big guns from both the WEC and UFC have descended upon Sacramento, Calif., to begin final preparations for the April 24 event.
But while WEC stars Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber, Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone joined UFC president Dana White today at ARCO Arena for a pre-event press conference, there was one noticeable absence.
The WEC logo.
Saturday's "Aldo vs. Faber" event, a historic moment in the astounding growth of the world's top MMA organization for lighter-weight fighters, has been noticeably stripped of its WEC feel in favor of a more familiar UFC-style presentation.
White has taken over for WEC general manger Reed Harris for the promotion of the event. Bruce Buffer will emcee the event rather than Joe Martinez. UFC broadcasters Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan will handle the play-by-play duties on the evening's pay-per-view broadcast.
"When I took this thing and made it my own personal project, I said from the get-go how we were going to promote this fight," White told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) following today's pre-event press conference.
Surprisingly, that apparently includes removing the identity of the WEC brand that Zuffa, LLC has worked so hard to build since acquiring the promotion in 2006.
White said it's a price the company had to pay in order to expand the reach of the promotion for this historic event.
"Here's what's happened: I don't know if you guys have noticed, but this thing is everywhere," White said. "It's on Spike TV. The commercials are running on Spike TV. The 'Countdown' show is on Spike TV. It's on MTV2. It's on Versus. It's everywhere. That's how we did it.
"This one's called 'Aldo vs. Faber.' I have a whole plan for this whole thing."
White declined to elaborate further on what that plan would entail, but he admitted it is a new approach for his company.
"In business, you've got to try things, see how it works," White said. "You use what works, and you throw away what doesn't."
Armed with his ever-present knowing smile, White seemed confident that his company's marketing and strategic efforts will prove successful on Saturday night. Of course White also admitted, unlike the days prior to UFC events, he has no idea what to expect when the pay-per-view sales figures roll into his office following the event.
However, he did know one thing. No matter what the final figure is, he's confident that he's done everything possible to make "Aldo vs. Faber" a success.
"I believe that we have the ingredients on how to make this thing successful and how to do it," White said. "You've seen a lot of smart guys with a lot of money try it over the last 10 years, and they've failed. ... I've literally come out guns a' blazing this week for this pay-per-view.
"Honestly, sitting here right now, I can't say to you guys, 'You know what? I wish I would have done this,' or 'I wish I would have done that.' On Monday morning when those numbers come in, I'm not going to look back and say, 'You know what? I should have done this.' I [expletive] did everything I needed to do for this card and for this pay-per-view, and we'll see what happens."
But is White at all concerned that the missing logo – and the UFC-esque feel of "Aldo vs. Faber" – will make it difficult to use the landmark event to grow the popularity and brand identification of the WEC?
"No," White said flatly. "You leave that up to me. I'll fix that; trust me. I like to think that I know what I'm doing, and we'll see how this thing goes on Saturday.
"The timing is right for me. Emotionally and mentally for me right now, this fight is really good for me. We'll find out if the timing is right for people as far as pay-per-view goes."
