Writing this article is one of the hardest things I’ve done since joining the BloodyElbow staff. This was the first time in my days writing here that I had to make a decision to write or not write something that could, in turn, limit my access to contacts that I’ve made in this sport. But the more thought that I have put into this, the more I have realized that what I owe to our readers is honesty…not silence because I’m worried about burning bridges. Our place in the world of MMA reporting, blogging, journalism, or whatever you would like to call it should be one of honest thought over self-interest.
I’ve given them as much of a chance as I’ve ever given anyone to try to convince me of something. But after conducting one phone interview with CEO Dave Szady and COO Michael Lynch and one “town hall” style interview where our readers were able to submit their own questions to those same executives as well as VP Pat Miletich I think the time has come for me to say what I think they’ve shown through interviews and actions…
WAMMA has placed itself in a position of irrelevance through their own refusal to adhere to their stated principals.
They claim that they are working to crown “one true undisputed champion without promotional boundaries” in each weight class but they do not appear willing to go out and make this happen. They have all but admitted that they simply are not willing to crown the best fighter in each weight class as their champion. Instead they focus on only promoting the fights that are in their best interest and allow for maximum exposure of their brand. This is the exact model they claim to be moving away from and fits almost exactly into the boxing sanctioning body model to which they claim to be different. There is no truth to moving away from the type of “club championships” that you see with the UFC, EliteXC, DREAM..etc. It is not “one true champion beyond promotional boundaries” when you are refusing to acknowledge the best fighters in a weight class as your champion because their promotion is not willing to work with you.
Ring Magazine’s rankings and titles are the gold standard in boxing for determining “true world champions” outside of the boundaries of corrupt promoters and sanctioning bodies. Ring Magazine does not care if the promoters managing fighters or involved in a major fight are willing to say that a fight is for the Ring Magazine title or not, a fighter deserving of their title will be recognized because they care about honesty in their rankings.
In their responses to twenty questions put forth by BloodyElbow readers WAMMA executives said the following:
we here at WAMMA do believe that a match between Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland would make the cut for a legitimate WAMMA Championship match.
This would be in the middleweight division…home to Anderson Silva, a man who received over 100 more “points” than Robbie Lawler in the September BloodyElbow Meta Rankings. Why would they consider Lawler/Lindland be a legitimate undisputed title fight? Because it’s the best fight they can find that doesn’t involve the UFC. NOT because the winner would be the clear-cut best fighter in the world at 185 lbs. What they are saying is more or less “yeah, we know that Anderson Silva is the best middleweight in the world, but Lawler or Lindland can be a legitimate undisputed champion because they’ll at least make us a buck.” There is a slight flaw in this argument, no?
Furthermore, why bother with a fancy ranking board if their rankings are pointless? How valuable are these rankings to the organization if they are willing to disregard the information contained therein. If Robbie Lawler were to win the title in this fantasy matchup against Lindland, would a single voter on their board put him above Anderson Silva? If not, then for their executives to say that we have to “agree to disagree” that this would be a legitimate title fight is ludicrous. For all the boasting about the impartial members of the ranking board. Why should we care?
The problem here is that they don’t care if fans of the sport find them credible. If they did they would know that they will never gain traction with those fans by suggesting that somehow they can have legitimate title holders when ignoring anyone under contract with Zuffa. WAMMA can get every athletic commission in the United States to consider them legitimate but without the fans buying what they’re selling their titles mean less than even being named the #1 fighter in BE’s own Meta-Rankings. At least we’re honest with ourselves and the fans about how we determine who is #1 on our lists.
Furthermore, how is this dismissal of fighters who aren’t working for a “friendly” promotion any different from Dana White’s dismissal of the legitimacy of fighters such as Fedor who won’t sign with his promotion? It isn’t. This is exactly the same thing. Unless WAMMA can have it’s name front and center, they are not as interested in the crowning of champions beyond promotional boundaries. Their own mission statement is a lie.
WAMMA officials claim that they simply can’t get behind a Zuffa fighter as their champion because it would put that fighter in a compromised position within their organization. But, lets be truthful here. The UFC would not punish a fighter because an independent organization crowned them their champion. Am I to believe that the UFC would punish one of their best (Anderson Silva) or most “gate friendly” (Georges St. Pierre) fighters because some random independent group has decided that they are in fact the best fighters in the world at their weight class? That is pure nonsense.
So the only question that matters for WAMMA is this…How do you gain respect and recognition as the gold standard for rankings and championships when you display such a willingness to overlook what every MMA fan considers the gold standard in fighters?
The truth is WAMMA’s model is broken. You can’t rely on making a profit off of sanctioning fights and remain an organization that is seeking to crown the one true champion in the current MMA climate. There is an inherent need in this model to be critical of who is and is not supportive of them which flies in the face of their claims of being above promotional concerns. The UFC will not be aligning itself with this body any time soon because contrary to WAMMA’s statements it would devalue the UFC’s title to have a “more important” and “true” championship contested on their broadcast. And without them being considered “friendly” WAMMA will not sanction Zuffa fights as being for their undisputed world title…and then without Zuffa contracted fighters being considered WAMMA can not honestly crown a champion in the 205, 185 and 170 lb divisions without it being seen as a money grabbing farce by the majority of the MMA community.
You can’t have it both ways WAMMA. You’re either a for-profit organization that is exclusively recognizing bouts that can provide you with monetary gains, or you are recognizing the best fighters regardless of promotion for their accomplishments. Right now your organization falls firmly into the former and this is not the kind of transparent and honest behavior that you claim to stand for.