UFC President Dana White has long talked about the WEC's eventual goal to focus on lighter weight fighters. The plan will finally be put into effect beginning in 2009. The two events remaining this year, on Nov. 5 and Dec. 3, will be the promotion's last featuring middleweights and light-heavyweights.
Selected middleweights and light-heavyweights will be moved over to the UFC. WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho and number one contender Chael Sonne are shoe-ins to transfer once they fulfill their title bout in November.
Light-heavyweight champion Steven Cantwell and former champ Brian Stann have already been tapped for a rubber match at Spike TV-UFC's "UFC Fight for the Troops" event on Dec. 10 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Filho and Sonnen are the two in particular that are expected to make an immediate mark in the UFC. The undefeated Filho is currently ranked the number two middleweight in the world. The PRIDE veteran would certainly be a respectable challenger for Anderson Silva's UFC title. However, the two are training partners and have stated that they would not fight each other.
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