WEC 45: Cerrone vs Ratcliff Fan Buzz

Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone takes on WEC veteran Ed Ratcliff Saturday night from the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas. With just three weight classes the WEC has a limited number of high-profile title fights that it can schedule, and this card was left without one. The fan buzz surrounding the event is somewhat low for the WEC, and sensing an opportunity, competitor Strikeforce has decided to go head to head with an event of its own. While several compelling matchups will be held including the anticipated debut of IFL standout Chris Horodecki, limited fan awareness of the event and its participants will likely result in a quiet night of ratings for the WEC.

The buzz rankings take into account the level of activity for people searching and reading about each MMA fighter online. The more online buzz, the greater the ranking.

The average buzz rank for WEC 45′s main and co-main event fighters is 417, and while Donald Cerrone has individually climbed as high as 52nd earlier this year, it will be a tall task to build an entire event around “The Cowboy.” In comparison, the average buzz rank for Strikeforce’s main and co-main event fighters this weekend at the “Evolution” card is 226, nearly twice as healthy.

The obvious prediction is this will spell trouble for the ratings of the WEC card. More importantly, it represents a new Strikeforce strategy of antagonizing the much larger UFC/WEC empire by cherry-picking weak events to go head to head against. Strikeforce may end up winning the battle on Saturday, but with Zuffa’s history of aggressiveness towards other promotions, the fireworks may just be getting started.