WAMMA and the UFC: Will Either one of them Give?

Call this article premature, but this topic will take precedence one day. WAMMA may be new and only have one of the 6 proposed champions, Fedor Emelianenko, but before they can have the best fighters in the world fighting for their titles, they need the UFC.

Just a little background, The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts, or WAMMA for short, was founded as an MMA affiliation for a global ranking system, regardless of the promotion the fighter is with. They have similar goals and visions for the sport of MMA similar to those of the UFC. They are setting up and molding an example just like boxing in a sense. Think NWA, professional wrestling fans, of if you’re a soccer fan, think of FIFA. However, WAMMA and the UFC at the moment are more like FIBA and the NBA. See the NBA is its own entity, and does as it pleases. They don’t just uses most if not all of the global rules for the way basketball should be conducted, they create it. FIBA does so as well, except FIBA has entire leagues that recognize them as the governing body.  The NBA, other than Olympic participation, does not. That being said, WAMMA is setting up a global, recognizable sanctioning body that sets up control amongst the various promotions/leagues out there. If history holds true, the UFC will have no part of this. They will keep to themselves and any other promotion affiliated with them (WEC, and now IFL).

WAMMA has decided to have a monthly ranking system, the 1^stof its kind, where they will rank the top fighters in each weight class regardless of promotion, to determine the absolute champions of the world, kind of like boxing. The difference is that there are not a bunch of sanctioning bodies as of yet, there is just 1. Sometimes, in boxing, those sanctioning bodies put their differences aside and launch their super fight to unify titles. We’ve seen some of the best fights that way, and they truly pit the best in the world. That being said, WAMMA has released their second set of rankings, right after the Affliction event. For the Affliction event, the only WAMMA championship on the line was the World Heavyweight championship, which pitted then #1 Fedor Emelianenko vs. #4 Tim Sylvia. Fedor destroyed Sylvia in 36 seconds and became the first ever WAMMA Champion. Not a bad poster boy if you ask me. But why could Fedor not face the #2 Heavyweight fighter in the world, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, instead? The answer is simple, the UFC. WAMMA did hold a conference with many of the major promotions in the MMA business and most were receptive but knew this would be an uphill battle, especially when the biggest of them all, the UFC, had no representatives at the conference. WAMMA executives have met with the Fertitta brothers though, but did not reveal exactly how the meeting turned out, as reported by Joe Hall on Sherdog.com. The only thing said by WAMMA executive Vice-President, Michael B. Lynch, was, “They didn’t bring the guards down and throw us out the door.” He added, “They left the door open.”

What are the chances that WAMMA can set up the absolute 2 best fighters in the world in each weight class? Slim without the UFC. If you go over to the WAMMA Rankings website,you will take note of something very detrimental to WAMMA. At the Heavyweight division, other than Champion Fedor Emelianenko, there are 5 of 10 fighters not in the UFC. #1 and #2 are actually Nogueria and Randy Couture, both under UFC contract. But that is the only division with that great of presence outside of the UFC above Lightweight, and the Featherweight Division does not exist in the UFC but does so in the WEC. The Light Heavyweight, with #1 showcasing UFC Champion Forrest Griffin, has no fighters outside of the UFC. The Middleweight Division headlined by UFC Champion and arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, only has 3 fighters ranked outside of the UFC, with the highest being EliteXC Champion Robbie Lawler at #4 and #7 being Matt Lindland. Paulo Filho, of the WEC is #3, however, WEC is affiliated with the UFC as both are owned by the ZUFFA.  The Welterweight division showcases UFC Champion Georges St. Pierre as #1, with his UFC 87 opponent Jon Fitch at #2, and EliteXC fighter Jake Shields at #3. Joining Shields, there is only one other non UFC fighter, Former Bodog Champion Nick Thompson at #10. Carlos Condit is ranked at #7 but he is the Champion in WEC. The Lightweight division features only 2 UFC fighters, #1 B.J. Penn and #5 Sean Sherk. Other than the Lightweight division, it will be extremely hard trying to put a champion in every weight class for WAMMA without the UFC.

WAMMAs rankings have left out several notable MMA champions throughout the world. Strikeforce Champions Alistair Overeem (Heavyweight), Bobby Southworth (Light-Heavyweight), and Cung Le (Middleweight) are not ranked. 1 of EliteXC’s 2 current champions, KJ Noons (Light-Heavyweight) is also absent. WEC Champions Brian Stann (Light-Heavyweight) and Jamie Varner (Lightweight) have been left out as well (Miguel Torres, the WEC Bantamweight Champion, has been excluded as has the entire Bantamweight Division). But does this necessarily mean that WAMMA, at its onset is not doing it’s job? The promotions whose champions have not been included goes to show that the level of competition, when compared to the other promotions around the world, do not match up. WAMMA has already gone out on a limb and ranked 40 UFC fighters of 50 fighters overall, above the Lightweight Division, in their top 10. What does that say other than it will be some time before there is a true WAMMA Champion at each weight class? That one day, if WAMMA is to survive the long haul, they will need to cater to the UFC, and have already set up the groundwork by recognizing the UFCs fighters even though they are technically not part of the alliance. Without the UFC, eventually, the financial backers for WAMMA, its employees, and eventually the fighters themselves, will not believe in holding out for that “dream” match-up and just keep trying to get into the UFC. WAMMA will need the UFC one day. For the moment, The UFC has proven it does not need anyone else.

Why should the UFC even care? Well for starters, even though they have most of the best fighters in the world, they could align themselves with an organization such as WAMMA that is working for the same goals worldwide, to foster and grow the sport of MMA, to put the very best fights together and to have uniformity worldwide in the sport of MMA. The UFC should recognize WAMMA, and even though WAMMA is a for profit company, they will not work to make cards up, the simply hope to recommend fights by their ranking system. The main benefactors of all this would be the fighter and the fan. The fighter will know that no matter where he goes or what he does, the sport is the same everywhere around the world. He will not have to worry about fighting in other promotions and not know the rules. Also, if he has proven his worth, there is a recognizable ranking system in place to show that indeed it is the case, or who he has to fight to get there. The fan benefits by getting to see the absolute best fights in the world, and see true champions out there, not just promotional ones. The fan will be able to learn the sport with an organization such as the UFC and WAMMA out there, fostering the sport and educating the public. MMA as a sport will only go up from here. The more places MMA becomes sanctioned, the more that youth around the world will pursue the sport, which only means the sport can only get bigger and better. It could be said the UFC can do it on its own, it has so far. But to avoid a monopoly hold if you will, WAMMA can help at least create an even playing field, even if the talent is still in the UFC.