WEC Sets First PPV for April 24

World Extreme Cagefighting will make its long-awaited pay-per-view debut April 24 and will feature a main event between featherweight champion Jose Aldo and former titleholder Urijah Faber, the company announced Wednesday via Twitter. “The California Kid” will once again take to the cage in his hometown of Sacramento, where the WEC has drawn big crowds to the Arco Arena on three previous trips.

The WEC also announced that lightweight champion Benson Henderson will defend his belt against Donald Cerrone in a rematch of their epic battle from last fall. The fight was named the “Sherdog.com Fight of the Year” for 2009.

Another former champion, featherweight Mike Thomas Brown, will square off with “The Ultimate Fighter” runner-up Manny Gamburyan in what will likely be a title eliminator.

Speculation has abounded as to when the UFC’s sister promotion would finally make the jump to the pay model and with the announcement of Aldo-Faber, Henderson-Cerrone and Brown-Gamburyan it is apparent the company thought the iron was hot enough to strike.

“We wanted to wait until we had this type of card to go to pay-per-view,” said WEC General Manager Reed Harris in an earlier interview with the AP. “We didn’t want to do a pay-per-view show until fans would say at the end of the night, ‘This was worth it.’ This will truly be the biggest event we’ve ever done.”

The price for the pay-per-view will be $44.95, according to an AP report.

With a primary part of its exposure coming via the Versus network, WEC, like every other MMA promotion, has lingered in the shadow of the UFC. The organization’s parent company, Zuffa, has begun a diligent effort to bring more eyes to the premier venue for lighter weight fighters. Zuffa will be airing a UFC card on Versus Mar. 21 that will feature super-prospect Jon Jones against Brandon Vera, as well as a heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Gabriel Gonzaga that will have major title implications.