James Brydon

The times they are a-changing for the WEC.

At the most recent event last weekend we saw the bantamweight belt change hands yet again. We also saw a former pound-for-pound stud, Miguel Torres, take a second straight loss and suddenly look like he's at a crossroads.

And we may have seen the last of a veteran trailblazer named Lil' Evil.

But that's just the beginning of how the picture of the WEC has changed. In fact the WEC looks more different now than it ever has since Zuffa took over.

First off, they are branching out into a lot more new locations. In the first two years after the UFC's parent company takeover, 10 of the WEC's 13 cards were held in Las Vegas (where the company of course is based), including the first seven. In the year-plus since: seven of the 10 have been outside Vegas, including trips to six different cities and four states. WEC 47 was the first show in Columbus, Ohio, and organizers were very happy with the results.

"It was very, very successful. The house was full tonight," general manager Reed Harris said in the post-fight press conference. "Attendance was right where we wanted it to be."

Harris added they might be making it an annual trip (effectively taking over for the UFC, which made trips to the city three straight years before leaving it off the calendar in 2010).

"I got there ... three hours before our fighters showed up to do autographs and there were people camping out like it was Star Wars. We're happy about that and we'll be coming back next year."

The event saw attendance of 8,345, down a bit from the previous show in Sacramento, but not bad. The television ratings were more concerning. There were a total of 373,000 viewers, which was 42 per cent less than WEC 46.

There was also a change in the broadcast booth, with Stephan Bonnar filling in for Frank Mir, who is in training for his fight at the end of the month. Mir's status as colour commentator remains up in the air, so we might expect to hear a different voice for the forseeable future.

The biggest ventures into new territory will be happening in the next few months. WEC 48 on April 24 will be the organization's first pay-per-view. While the last event's viewership numbers might be cause for alarm heading into this next one, the good news is it will be headlined by the promotion's most marketable star, Urijah Faber, fighting for the title against an explosive Jose Aldo. There is also a lightweight championship bout and another fight featuring former featherweight title-holder Mike Brown. It will be interesting to see how many buys this one gets.

For Canadian fans, we can look forward to the WEC's first trip north of the border, likely in Calgary in June. (WEC officials have yet to confirm the venue or date, but told sportsnet.ca last week they "are currently planning an event in Calgary for early summer.")

The flyweight division is moving forward with the formation of it likely happening in 2010. But a women's division isn't in the works, at least not now.

"We actually looked at that last year," Harris said. "I did some work on that trying to see how many female fighters there were and how deep the divisions were and there just wasn't enough depth.

"We just couldn't put it together where we could have a division and make it meaningful. Our whole company, our goal is to have meaningful fights always and not just do one-off fights."

Little by little, WEC fighters are gaining more exposure. Last year Torres threw out the first pitch at a White Sox game. And last week Harris and some fighters had a meet-and-greet with Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash, fresh off winning a gold medal at the Olympics.

From a fan's perspective, there seems to be more understanding and appreciation of the smaller fighters. A lot seem to get that they fight at a much faster pace in general than those in higher weight classes, which can really make for exciting fights.

Harris believes the move to eliminate the higher weight divisions and focus on the smaller ones was the best move they could have done, even if he didn't originally agree with it.

"At the beginning of '09 (when UFC president) Dana (White) came and said 'We want you to eliminate your higher weight classes and focus on the lighter weights,' I was actually against it,'" Harris admitted. "I look back now and I see that was absolutely the right decision. We were too spread out and we needed to focus on the lighter weight fighters, and it really helped us define our brand and make the WEC unique in the MMA world."

All in all, Harris believes the organization is further along than they'd ever expected at this point. The only thing more he'd like to see going forward is more ancillary programs on television.

"I've got some really interesting guys like Miguel Torres and Urijah Faber. I want to get them out to the public."

He said he's happy with the deal they have with the Versus network in the U.S. (And he must have breathed a sigh of relief Monday when it was announced the cable channel was returning to DirecTV.)

But there is one more way that the face of the WEC looks like it's changing. As a handful of fighters in their early 20s sat near the podium at the WEC 47 post-fight press conference, 35-year-old veteran featherweight Jens Pulver, who has laid the foundation for the smaller fighters, spoke tearfully following yet another loss (his fifth in a row) about what may be the end of his career. He said the time may be now for the younger guys.

"These guys are great, and to see them all get the opportunity, it means a lot to me. When we started this, they took a risk, we're going to give it a shot and see what happens see if we can make this weight class and as TV came and they got to grow, we started growing."

The sentiment wasn't lost on the other fighters, who took turns talking about what Pulver has meant to them as "an ambassador for the smaller guys."

Pulver ended by reflecting on how far the WEC has come.

"To go from where we started, legal in three states, to where we are now and see the incredible crowd here in Ohio. I'm just a proud old man. A proud papa, I guess.

"This is the place I want to push. These are the fighters I want to get behind and I enjoy watching every single one of them fight."

It appears that not only are we seeing a different looking WEC, but that the torch has been passed from the old guard to the new.