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WAMMA press conference on Wednesday

By Zach Arnold | November 13, 2007

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For those who care: Wednesday is the presser for the new attempt at a sanctioning body in MMA, WAMMA. Godwin Asifo was/is Ike Quartey’s manager.

I can’t begin to stress how little I take this deal seriously. Rank fighters by weight division? Every mom and pop MMA web site does that. (Besides, there’s a new online system in place for user-generated fighter rankings. You don’t need a panel of 30 ‘experts’ or scholars to rank fighters.) Establish Unified rules? Hello, there are already Unified rules in the books. Ensure the safety and welfare of the fighters? That’s what the athletic commissions are there to do with MRI & CT tests and insurance for the fights. Sanction ‘world championship bouts’? With who? UFC won’t cooperate and Gary Shaw (through EXC) has control of several of the mid-major MMA promotions. If those two aren’t involved, who’s going to care?

On a recent edition of Fight Opinion Radio, I stated that the alarm bells went off for me about the WAMMA project when I saw that the news story came out of Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola is the home territory for Roy Jones Jr. and months ago, I had heard rumblings from a couple of top boxing writers that the former management of Jones Jr. was going to try to get involved in a big way with MMA. One writer claimed to me that the former management team of Jones (which is the main part of this new WAMMA project) was going to try to pierce through the current system of MMA promotion (meaning each promoter has their own title belts as opposed to a sanctioning body controlling matchmaking and purse bids) and that Roy’s former management team felt real confident that they will be able to accomplish this task at hand.

If this new sanctioning body cannot change the Unified rules to their liking by persuading various state athletic commissions, then the only conceivable method (in my opinion) would be WAMMA filing a lawsuit or multiple lawsuits. The question is whether or not WAMMA can somehow create a power structure and force itself upon promoters in the sport legally. It would, by default, be the equivalent of lighting a stick of dynamite and imploding the current business models being employed in the industry.

Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “WAMMA press conference on Wednesday”

  1. David says:

    Waste of time and money…

  2. JP says:

    Total waste

    FILA>WAMMA

  3. jgass says:

    I would not worry about them attacking the current structure from a legal standpoint. There are 4 major sanctioning bodies in boxing. None of them have been able to use legal action to bring down the others, or to take down “unsanctioned” competition, such as what happens on many HBO telecasts (not all promoters choose to pay the sanctioning fees when top talent is involved, since they draw anyway). My only worry here is that the smaller promoters will grab onto this concept in an attempt to market themselves. Hopefully the sanctioning fees they have to pay will dissuade them. Since we have a system in place of promoter based titles that is working and is accepted by the market, I just don’t see how they will penetrate the upper reaches of the sport.

    Watch out for the big boxing sanctioning bodies like the WBC though! If they ever get over their prejudice against MMA, which I expect to happen soon due to the huge amount of money being generated, you make see the WBC try to sanction MMA, using the theory that they are the most prestigious sanctioning body in boxing, and can give legitimacy to MMA titles as well. To be quite honest I have been waiting for them to jump in to this area. Again, I don’t think it will work. The existing economic model is too entrenched and promoters, managers and fighters are just not going to pay the fees. They would be foolish to do so. There is no reason that the current pro wrestling type business model cannot provide the fights that the public demands. They just have to work with one another. If you look back at boxing history, there are plenty of great fights that were not made due to sanctioning bodies (and TV alliances) so the public not getting the fights they want is nothing new in the world of boxing. There is no reason to throw another layer of bureaucracy into the mix.

  4. Peter H. says:

    Isn’t the International Olympic Committee backing World Victory Road in the creation of a standard set of rules for MMA?

  5. D.Capitated says:

    I would be shocked to hear that the IOC is actively involving itself in MMA. Its not an amateur sport, and thus employing it in the Olympics is highly, highly unlikely. Add to this the general resentment by many members regarding boxing and TKD being sports and the push to remove them because of the safety concerns and I don’t believe you’ll ever see any serious involvement.

  6. David Szady, the man who brought you the unbelievably bad investigation into the world’s biggest spy in the history of the United States and was still kept in his position. Robert Hannsen was spy for the Russians within the FBI, think the movie “Breach”.

    Szady headed the team, and instead of relying on intel inside the organization pointing at Hannsen, he came to the conclusion that there was no way anyone inside the agency could be doing so. They never found out it was him through investigation, but only through a tip.

    Maybe Szady will bring that kind of great work to WAMMA.

  7. drizzle says:

    Great write up as usual.

    I am still suprised that you haven’t made your clickable links open a new window yet. I brought this subject up a few months ago and, once I realized nothing would be done about it, I stopped coming here.

    I got directed here from another article by chance. I was like “Hey, FightOpinion, cool”.

    As I read through this piece I clicked on a blue colored link. Same as always.

    When will you learn that you are behind the times using this method. 95% of your readers will appreciate it.

    Please MAKE LINKS OPEN A NEW WINDOW.

    Thanks,

    DRizzle

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