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WEC 44 ratings are now available.

The WEC fight card, which featured a featherweight title bout between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo, drew an average audience of 414,000 viewers. That is five-thousand fewer viewers than the Cerrone-Henderson fight card in October.

This is the second WEC event to air on Versus since DirecTV dropped the Comcast owned sports station and the newest numbers represents a trend in decreased viewership.

Since the DirecTV-Comcast divorce the WEC has held two events that drew approximately identical viewership. WEC 43 drew 419,000 viewers while WEC 44 drew 414,000 viewers. Prior to DirecTV pulling Versus, WEC 42 drew 670,000 viewers. That is a 37% drop in ratings for both events when compared to pre-dispute numbers.

MMA Junkie points out that Versus' normal programming usually draws within the 400,000-500,000 range. Still, as a MMA fan it is painful to see meaningful and exciting title fights drawing nowhere near the numbers that The Ultimate Fighter season 10 is drawing. Even the weak episodes of TUF are beating WEC title fights by 350%.

It is no wonder that people constantly believe the UFC-WEC merger rumors.

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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WEC 44 salaries are now public and they are small for the smaller fighters.

• Jose Aldo* $26,000 ($13,000 to show, $13,000 to win) def. Mike Brown $15,000.
• Manny Gamburyan $36,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 to win) def. Leonard Garcia $14,000.
• Karen Darabedyan $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win) def. Rob McCullough $20,000.
• Shane Roller* $24,000 ($12,000 to show, $12,000 to win) def. Danny Castillo $9,500.
• Kamal Shalorus $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win) def. Will Kerr $2,000.
• L.C Davis $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win) def. Diego Nunes $5,000.
• Cub Swanson* $18,000 ($9,000 to show, $9,000 to win) def. John Franchi* $4,000.
• Antonio Banuelos $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 to win) def. Kenji Osawa $6,000.
• Ricardo Lamas $8,000 ($4,000 to show, $4,000 to win) def. James Krause $2,000.
• Frank Gomez $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win) def. Seth Dikun $3,000.

At a glance there are several things that stand out.

*- Jose Aldo, Shane Roller, Cub Swanson and John Franchi all received $10,000 "fight night" bonuses.

- The Ultimate Fighter season five veteran, Manny Gamburyan, is making more in base salary than three time featherweight champion, Mike Brown.

- "Razor" Rob McCullough has the largest base salary of any fighter on the card. McCullough is a former WEC lightweight champion (defeated Kit Cope for the belt, defended it against Rich Crunkilton and lost it to Jamie Varner) and is 8-4 in the WEC.

- Below WKR ranks several fighters based on their "worth" according to their base salary.

Rob McCullough > Manny Gamburyan > Mike Brown > Leonard Garcia > Jose Aldo > Shane Roller

- Now this is what the rankings should look like

Mike Brown > Jose Aldo > Shane Roller > Rob McCullough > Leonard Garcia > Manny Gamburyan

- Total money paid out at WEC 44 was $266,500.

- Total base salary for WEC 44 was $158,500.

- Including "fight night" bonuses the WEC paid out $108,000 in bonus money, $78,000 in win bonuses and $30,000 in "fight night" bonuses.

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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WKR latest episode of Cage Cast recaps WEC 44 and the other big news in the MMA world.

You can download the episode here, subscribe to our RSS feed here and check us out on iTunes. The streaming version is below. Send feedback to watchkalibrun@gmail.com.

There is a new WEC featherweight champion. Jose Aldo defeated Mike Brown to become the best featherweight fighter in MMA.

WKR recaps the rest of the card including the weird Boba Fett costume that popped up in the corner. Check out the other Star Wars hoodies at Ecko.com.

WKR also goes through the recent MMA news. Shogun and Machida will have a rematch on May 1st in Montreal. Brock Lesnar's condition has improved. Randy Couture and Mark Coleman will fight at UFC 109 too.

Finally we talk about UFC 105's ratings.

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There's a new champion in town. Jose Aldo defeated Mike Brown to become the new WEC featherweight champion. Bring on Urijah Faber!

Kimbo Slice's return? There was an episode of TUF 10 last night and Spike marketed the episode as the probable return of Kimbo Slice. Unfortunately for Spike Matt Mitrione hasn't withdrawn, yet. Tune in next week to find out if Kimbo is coming back...

Brendan Schaub knocked out Jon Madsen to make it to the TUF 10 semi-finals.

Rashad defeated Rampage in the coaches challenge of beach volleyball.

Manny Gamburyan used an awkward hug to defeat Leonard Garcia.

Oh yeah, Boba Fett made an appearance during WEC 44

That's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu trainer, Marc Laimon. Laimon says he has another costume in the bank for UFC 106. Probably Darth Maul...

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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Jose Aldo was once looked upon as the future of the WEC featherweight division. Tonight Aldo proved that the future is now the present.

Aldo was simply too fast and too strong for the veteran Mike Brown. Throughout the fight Jose was able to attack with varying strikes from different angles to befuddle the champion. At several points Mike Brown looked to take the fight to the ground but was repeatedly stuffed by Aldo's underrated grappling skills.

In the second round Brown once again looked to the ground in order to escape Aldo's strikes, which had just opened a cut on the champion. Aldo stuffed the takedown but this time he followed the champion to the ground, securing the mount. As Brown attempted to roll out he gave up his back and Aldo was able to throw undefended punches until referee Steve Mazzagatti correctly stopped the fight at 1:20. 

Aldo's victory will certainly propel him to the top of the featherweight rankings and perhaps even the top of the pound-for-pound list.

Jose also lays claim to the top spot of the WEC's marquee division and talk will surely begin of a possible fight with former champion Urijah Faber.


SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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WEC 44 is live tonight at 9:00pm ET on Versus.

WEC 44's main event features a featherweight title fight between current champion, Mike Brown, and number one contender, Jose Aldo, may end up being the best fight of November.

WKR will be live blogging the televised fight card throughout the evening. ***Spoilers*** for the WEC 44 preliminary card will be available after the jump.

Result - Jose Aldo def. Mike Borwn via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 1:20. Jose Aldo is the new WEC featherweight champion.

11:07 - Mike Brown comes out aggressive in round two but eats several punches, a spinning back kick and as a result shoots for a single leg. Aldo stuffs the takedown reverses it and gets the mount. Brown spins over but with both hooks in Mike can't escape and Jose Aldo unleashes a flurry of punches. Steve Mazzagatti correctly ends the fight.

11:05 - Aldo takes round one and looks too fast for Mike Brown.

11:03 - Jose Aldo lands a wicked leg kick over hand left combination.

11:00 - Introductions are over the fight is about to begin. Finally!

10:53 - Jose Aldo making his way to the cage. Go grab a beer this could take a few minutes.

Result - Manny Gamburyan def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

10:43- Round three ends so it is all up to the judges. Based upon their previous work I am expecting a ring girl to win the fight.

10:40 - Leonard Garica drops his hands sticks his chin out and let's Manny punch him several times. Now that is a winning strategy.

10:38 - Manny and Leonard run out of their corners to the middle of the cage for an awkward hug (not exaggerating) to begin round three.

10:35 - Manny finally gets a takedown and takes the second round.

10:28 - First round ends and WKR scores it for Garcia due to his sprawl and effective striking. Manny didn't do a lot with the clinch once he got it but he should take solace in the fact if he was Randy Couture he would have won the round...

10:26 - Manny is warned for a low blow to Garcia.

10:22 - Leonard Garcia vs. Manny Gamburyan is about to start.

10:15 - Kind of shocking that we had two judges score the fight 30-27 for opposite fighters. Doesn't bode well if the title fight goes to decision.

Result - Karen Darabedyan def. Rob McCullough via split decision (30-27, 29-28, 27-30).

10:11 - Round 3 ends and it looks like Darabedyan will win via decision.

10:05 - Frank Mir thinks Rob McCullough took round two. I have to disagree based on Karen's takedown and the damage he did in the Rob's guard.

10:04 - Round 2 comes to a close with both fighters bloodied. WKR scores it 10-9 for Karen.

10:01 - Karen has a mouse under his right eye but he secured a takedown and opened another cut on McCullough with a mean elbow from Rob's guard.

9:57 - Karen Darabedyan opens a cut on Rob McCullough's nose. Close round and it could go either way but WKR scores it 10-9 for Darabedyan.

9:51 - Laimon also has something planned for UFC 106 (Jar Jar Binks costume?). Anyways the McCullough-Darabedyan fight is about to begin. 

9:47 - I guess the guy in the Boba Fett costume was Marc Laimon.

Result - Shane Roller def. Danny Castillo via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 3, 3:32

9:38 - Finally get to change the channel to Versus and I see Boba Fett in the cage.

9:31 - Apparently Castillo is winning but was hurt by a knee from Roller. Thank god for Twitter.

9:30 - So mad right now.

9:14 - Really sorry about the delay but I should be able to start in a few minutes.

9:00 - Okay, we are going to get started late here as the roommate is busy watching the LeBron's, err, I mean Cavs. Thank god for DVR.

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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Spike's non-stop teasing of a second chance for Kimbo Slice may finally come true tonight. Unfortunately for MMA fans the "drama" of TUF 10 will go head-to-head with what some are hyping as a possible "Fight of the Year" between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo.

How does this make any sense?

Zuffa is essentially counter promoting their own event with an episode of TUF.

Even with TUF 10's recent drop off in ratings the show is still drawing 2.4 million viewers. Combine the viewers who will be watching TUF with the viewers who will be unable to watch Versus due to the dispute between Comcast and DirecTV and there is no reason to expect WEC 44 to outperform WEC 42 or 43.

The past two Versus' WEC cards drew 670,000 and 419,000 viewers. A poorly watched episode of TUF is outdrawing a WEC fight card by 350%. It is no wonder that top WEC fighters are clamoring for more money.

But with TUF running at the same time it is completely reasonable to expect WEC 44's ratings to drop.

Versus broadcast block is from 9:00-11:00pm ET so there is a chance that the featherweight fight will run over and there will be a bump in viewers after the tenth episode of TUF. Yet, there is no gaurantee that viewers will switch over from TUF to WEC 44 at 11:00pm.

Nice job Zuffa...

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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Main Card

• Mike Brown (145 lbs.) vs Jose Aldo (145 lbs.)
• Manny Gamburyan (146 lbs.) vs Leonard Garcia (146 lbs.)
• Rob McCullough (155 lbs.) vs Karen Darabedyan (156 lbs.)
• Danny Castillo (156 lbs.) vs Shane Roller (156 lbs.)

Preliminary Card

• Kamal Shalorus (156 lbs.) vs Will Kerr (155 lbs.)
• Diego Nunes (146 lbs.) vs LC Davis (146v)
• Cub Swanson (146 lbs.) vs John Franchi (145 lbs.)
• Antonio Banuelos (136 lbs.) vs Kenji Osawa (136 lbs.)
• Ricardo Lamas (155 lbs.) vs James Krause (156 lbs.)
• Seth Dikun (136 lbs.) vs Frank Gomez (136 lbs.)

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

November's MMA blitz continues with WEC 44 on Versus tomorrow night at 9:00pm ET. WEC 44's main event features a featherweight title fight between Mike Thomas Brown and Jose Aldo. 

For whatever reason Zuffa has refrained from a major promotional push for WEC 44. In fact there has been even less promotion for WEC 44 than Zuffa's minimal effort for UFC 105. On top of the lack of promotion WEC 44 will have to compete with a new episode of The Ultimate Fighter season ten during the second half of their broadcast (how does that make any sense?).

Some will justify Zuffa's lack of promotional investment due to the fact that the WEC features smaller and lighter fighters and fight fans aren't as interested in the little guys compared to the heavyweights. WKR finds this argument complete hogwash. Manny Pacquiao has proven that small fighters can sell big fights if given the proper support. Hell, Bill Simmons even elevated Manny Pacquiao's status as a pay-per view draw to the equivalent of a young Mike Tyson.

Mike Brown vs. Jose Aldo is easily capable of being MMA's version of Pacquio vs. Cotto.

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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Main Card

• Champ Mike Brown (-130) vs. Jose Aldo (even) for WEC featherweight title.
• Manny Gamburyan (-125) vs. Leonard Garcia (-105)
  
• Karen Darabedyan (+135) vs. Rob McCullough (-165)
  
• Danny Castillo (-145) vs. Shane Roller (+115)
  

Odds via MMA Moneyline

SBN coverage of WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo

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