What is WAMMA, you might ask? WAMMA is the first ever sanctioning body in the mixed martial arts world. You may ask yourself as I have when I read the press release, why the hell would MMA need a sanctioning body when the Athletic Commissions regulate MMA? The commissions regulate rules, drug testing, and pre-fight testing to make sure all fighters are medically clear to fight on a card within their state. Here's a little excerpt from the press email I received:
Respected figures from the business world, professional and amateur athletics, medicine, and sports journalism will gather at a lunch/press conference next week to launch the first ever MMA sanctioning body. WAMMA – the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts – will rank fighters by weight division, establish unified rules, ensure the safety and welfare of fighters, and sanction world championship bouts. Most important, it will enable the best fighters in the world to face off against each other, creating unified legitimacy and increasing the integrity of the sport.
Many other MMA sites have hit this point on the head, but I might as well say the same thing because I feel exactly the same way. There are at least 10+ sites that rank fighters by weight class already. Those rankings also seem to stick in fighter's minds as well and seem to have become the norm even though the UFC and other organizations don't use them when picking fights or so they claim. Fact is, each promotions doesn't necessarily need rankings to find what the MMA community deems as the top fighter in each organization and the subsequent list 2 to 10.
Unified rules? There are already unified rules in mixed martial arts, and when there are different rules, it normally reverts back to PRIDEfc rules. There isn't much variations from organizations, if any at all. It's ridiculous to think that we actually need a sanctioning body telling us what we already have established. The safety and welfare of the fighters is already overseen by the athletic commissions. The only real time that a sanctioning body would come into play is within a state or country in which a commission isn't present. Even those states and countries are now in the process of establishing some sort of commission, and it's only a matter of time before we see it come to be. Considering the fact that commissions will make money from the regulation and testing of fighters for events in each state, I would think that the states that do not currently regulate MMA, but have a significant presence in their state of MMA fighters, will be on board soon enough.
I'm not completely familiar with the boxing sanctioning bodies, somebody enlighten me on how they function and what they actually do that an athletic commission does not. I imagine that the statement regarding the fact that the best fighters in the world will be alllowed to face off against each other is something that falls into a unique category. I suppose if two promotions wanted two champions to battle each other, they could either work through some type of co-promotion, buy out the other organization as ProElite has done, or go through a sanctioning body. The latter seems like an easier thing to do in some instances, but it's proven to be a huge downside in boxing.
The players
The most ridiculous part about WAMMA is the people behind it. Here's the excerpt:
Appearing at the press conference will be former wrestler and NFL player Bill Goldberg; MMA Legends Pat Miletich and Don Frye; noted boxing manager Godwin Asifo; attorney Fred Levin, who helped manage the career of boxer Roy Jones, Jr.; nationally known attorney Michael Lynch; and David Szady, a 33-year veteran of the FBI.
Bill Goldberg has once again popped up somewhere else in the MMA world. I'm not completely sure if this is a ploy by WAMMA to simply put a bunch of big names in front of the press in order to get people there or if any of these people are actually going to have anything to do with the sanctioning body. Goldberg currently does the post-fight interviews for EliteXC and some on-air commentary at times. You may know him as the pro wrestling champion from the WCW and the WWE. Another name to attract interest.
Pat Miletich and Don Frye shouldn't need much elaboration. Miletich is a former UFC champion and owner and founder of Miletich Fighting Systems Camp in Bettendorf, Iowa. He's coached many UFC champions and successful UFC veterans as well as many up-and-coming fighters through the constant stream of MMA promotions throughout the country. Don Frye is the old legend, the man who didn't back down from anyone and had some enormously entertaining battles in PRIDE. Two well-known MMA legends, more names to attract interest.
Godwin Asifo is Ike Quartey’s manager, so what? Fred Levin managed Roy Jones Jr.'s career, so he is now managing WAMMA accounts? Who knows, more names that people within the MMA industry don't care about when it comes to a sanctioning body. Who the hell is Michael Lynch? Isn't he the guy who was involved with Gary Condit? Not entirely sure, but seems irrelevant. The name that perplexes me the most is David Szady. A 33 year veteran of the FBI, but it doesn't mention in what division of the FBI. I realized that this was the David Szady who ran the counterintelligence division of the FBI. He was actually appointed the senior counterintelligence official in '01 until he retired in '06. Interestingly enough, there are many people out there who blame him for the considerable lack of quick justice in many of the United States's counterintelligence activities. Szady has been deemed by some writers in the political and intelligence arenas of being the single person who completely left us wide open to spies infiltrating the FBI. Case in point, Szady was the man in charge during the Robert Hannsen case in which Hannsen was actually a KGB spy who infiltrated the FBI. Yeah, remember they made a movie out of it called "Breach". Apparently, Szady wasted months concentrating on other organizations instead of the FBI when many felt the mole was inside the agency. This was only one of many cases that people have felt were at fault because of Szady and his team of investigators. Check out this blog about the book Enemies that highlights all of his foulups.
What does that have to do with MMA you might ask? Nothing. I do, however, find it very interesting that a FBI counterintelligence agent is now putting his face on a new MMA sanctioning body. What the hell for? Money. It all lies in the money. Szady may be looking for a small job to do while he's retired and he said "Why not?". Maybe he can clear up the Sean Sherk case by looking into Gary Shaw's desk for nandrolone vials and then somehow ignore the fact it was within his own organization! Szady may act as a chief investigator into testing and upholding regulations. It seems rather odd since his main line of work was unmasking information leaks.
All speculation of course, we'll find out more on Wednesday.
Final thoughts
This seems to all point toward the easy buck. I don't know who the hell is actually going to allow WAMMA to sanction their events, but in my mind, nobody will. Let me reiterate my initial thoughts. MMA already has a set of unified rules, and when they are changed, it's normally a slight change. All of these rules are already regulated by the athletic commissions within the states that allow mixed martial arts. Testing, insurance, and medical testing and oversight are already provided by the commissions as well. The UFC seems to be doing their own testing in unsanctioned areas like England that do not have a commission and will probably continue to do so. As mentioned on FightOpinion, sanctioning title bouts by co-promotions is pointless since EliteXC and the UFC won't be co-promoting with anyone soon, you can add M-1 into that mix as well. Could they be that stupid when they thought up this idea? It has to be about money. The names that are listed have no real relevance with a sanctioning body. They seem to be names that will gather interest. Wednesday will be the day of the press conference and we'll hopefully find out what exactly these names will be doing for the sanctioning body. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a whole load of fluff.