Mike Brown Surprised With Merger Reveal, to Possibly Fight at WEC 53

Despite being one of the more recognizable names attached to the WEC brand, former featherweight champ Mike Brown learned of the recent UFC-WEC merger the same way most people did: via the Internet.

"[The WEC] kept it hidden very well," Brown said Monday on MMAFighting.com's The MMA Hour. "Usually you hear the rumors and stuff starts to pop up, but I didn't hear anything until -- Boom! It was all over the Internet and my friends were calling me and telling me."

According to the 35-year-old American Top Teamer, nobody in the organization told him before the news broke and it wasn't until the following day when he touched on the subject with a company representative through matchmaker Sean Shelby.

Brown says he doesn't know why the merger took place at this particular time, but offered a guess to host Ariel Helwani.

"I think they were maybe trying to grow the WEC to see if they could make two shows as big as the UFC," Brown said. "And I just think more [popular with] the UFC name brand, you got to go with the UFC name brand."

Brown, a one-time UFC fighter back in 2004, has been competing with the WEC organization since June 2008 and is looking forward to his return trip to the full-sized Octagon.

"It's new motivation. It's new excitement," said Brown, who plans on staying at featherweight when he makes his UFC return. "I can't wait. So happy. It'll have been seven years for me to get back into the UFC."

Ever the active competitor, Brown doesn't want to wait another few months for a UFC fight. If Brown has it his way, he will make one more appearance in the WEC before the curtains close. Coming off a TKO win over Cole Province at WEC 51 in September, Brown wants to be a late addition to the final WEC card, WEC 53 on Dec. 16.

"I'm pushing [for a WEC 53 fight]," he said. "I'm scratching on the door."

Brown said there's no opponent names out there yet and when given the platform to call out an opponent, Brown respectfully declined.

"I just want to get it going, I just want to stay active," Brown said. "And [the WEC] are always good, they always find something for me."