Issue 062

May 2010

There is one place all lighter-weight fighters aspire to be, and that is the WEC. Sister-promotion to the UFC and home to the world’s best fighters at 145lb and below, the athletes in the WEC never fail to put on a good show. 

LEADING MAN

Sean Shelby

WEC Matchmaker

As matchmaker for the WEC, Sean Shelby is the man responsible for finding, developing and handling the world-class talent that fans love to watch so much. Working closely with WEC General Manager Reed Harris, Shelby is a key member of the team and looks after the growing roster of fighters who make up the ranks of the expanding Zuffa-owned promotion.  

A long-time Zuffa employee, Shelby worked behind the scenes of the UFC back when it was “run like a start-up company.” As he explains, “The UFC, years ago, there were ten of us – ten employees. People did everything, everything you could imagine – down to making sure the spit buckets were in the trailer. We ticked off everything. You name it I did it, like everybody else did.”  

As he jokingly puts it, there are no college classes for someone looking to be a matchmaker in MMA, but Shelby benefited from working alongside two of the sport’s foremost figures in Dana White and Joe Silva, and paid his dues for many years before being handed the task of coordinating the talent in the WEC. “There is no way you could throw me into the WEC fresh off the street and expect me, or anybody, to get it right off the bat,” he says. “Even being in the UFC for years, there was still a huge feeling-out process. I think I had a pretty good head on my shoulders to begin with, but much of it was being in the trenches every day with Dana and Joe. Working with Joe, who is the best matchmaker in the world and has the toughest matchmaker’s job in the world, I think that I’ve seen it all.”  

There is an art to making fights – it isn’t as simple as picking two names out of a hat and getting fighter A to square off against fighter B, as Sean explains: “You’re always running these mini-tournaments in your head. If fighter A beats fighter B, and you’ve got fighter C and fighter D, you think ‘I’ll have the winner of A and B fight the winner of C and D’. A wins but now he’s injured for six months.  Somebody threw a monkey wrench in your plans; now you have to go get two other fighters! But on top of that you only have so much space, so much TV time – which is integral. You have to get the talented fighters out there and on TV. It’s not as easy as picking two names out of a hat.”  

In a nutshell, Shelby’s job could be described as making fights, but there are many layers to his role. For a start, Shelby scouts for the very best international talent in a bid to keep the WEC the world leaders in promoting lighter-weight fighters. “A big chunk of my time is watching fighters from around the world. I watch every single event possible,” he says. “I’m constantly looking to develop the roster by bringing in fighters. There is talent out there that I like and who I’d like to sign, and then there’s talent I just know they’re gonna be incredible fighters in a year or two. Big show, small show, developed or undeveloped; it doesn’t matter to me, I look at everything.” As exciting as this sounds, there is one downside to Shelby’s role. “Yeah, I’m the one who hires them and unfortunately I’m the one who fires them.  

“My job is to create a conveyer belt of contenders.  I owe my champions contenders, and the biggest part of my job is bringing them tough-as-nails new talent. For new talent to come in, old talent has to go – there’s only so much space – and the champions don’t want to fight the same fighters over and over again, especially if they’ve beaten them soundly.”  

As the WEC becomes home to more and more of the world’s very best lighter-weight fighters, Shelby is confident that the best is yet to come. “This is an incredible era for MMA as there is so much talent out there. MMA is still a young sport and is still evolving. Supreme athletes are only just making their way into MMA. I think lighter-weight divisions have the best fighters on the planet – they’re just not yet respected like they should be.  

“The thing that I think sets MMA apart from other sports is you always leave an MMA event with a ‘holy crap’ moment, and I think with the lighter-weight fighters there is a lot more opportunity to say that during an event because they can do incredible things. The hardcore fans know what incredible athletes they are and they’re every bit as good as their heavyweight counterparts, if not better. They can move in ways heavyweights can’t, they can do things heavyweight fighters can’t do, and they’ve got a gas tank that can go on forever. Who wouldn’t want to see a fight like that?”  

With a strong team and the backing of Zuffa and the UFC, the WEC will continue to expand its trademark brand of high-energy entertainment and Shelby loves every second of the challenge. “The sport is so young and we’re pushing it. We’ve got our work cut out,” says Sean, “but we’re off to a fantastic start.”