The WAMMA Problem

WAMMA, World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts http://gowamma.com/index.asp, is a relatively new company that formed with the noble intention of crowning undisputed champions via the highly scientific and never controversial method of a media poll, a system that works fantastically for college football.

WAMMA has put together a ranking committee composed almost entirely of MMA reporters, and every month this committee comes up with the top 10 fighters in each weight class. The fighters voted #1 in their weight classes do not automatically become WAMMA Champions. WAMMA champions are crowned when the top ranked fighter in a weight class takes on a highly ranked opponent, in a fight that WAMMA approves.


Sounds like an interesting idea, right? There's just one major problem. WAMMA is not an MMA promotion, it has put on exactly zero fights, and it never plans on putting on a single fight. Instead, WAMMA tries to "partner" with MMA promotions where by the "partner" puts together the fight card & event, but WAMMA gets to give out the belt.

Oddly enough, Zuffa, which owns the UFC and WEC, told WAMMA to fuck off when WAMMA approached Zuffa. This was a smart move for the UFC. The UFC has developed into the best known MMA promotion/brand, and the UFC can promote Jackson vs. Griffin for the UFC light heavyweight championship just fine on its own without trying to explain to people that its WAMMA's top ranked light heavyweight versus WAMMA's #3 ranked light heavyweight for the WAMMA belt.

Since Affliction was a start up that hadn't put on a single event when WAMMA approached them, Affliction decided to "partner" with WAMMA. Hey, when you're a new promotion, you need all the additional publicity you can get.

So, Affliction was able to hype Affliction:Banned's main event as the battle for WAMMA's undisputed heavyweight championship. Which helped make Affliction: Banned look like a bigger event than it was and gave the event some added publicity.

We all know what happened. Fedor, WAMMA's #1, beat Sylvia, WAMMA's #4, and won the first ever WAMMA belt. Hooray, Affliction got to give out a belt at its first event and could have Fedor in a title defense in its second event, Affliction: Day of Reckoning against either WAMMA's #3 heavyweight, Barnett, or its #4, Arlovksi.

Unfortunately, Fedor can't/won't compete in Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Instead, the main event will be Barnett vs Arlovski in what WAMMA has decided will be Heavyweight Elimination Bout. That's fine and dandy because Affliction was planning on having the winner fight Fedor at its next event, right?

Wrong, there's a difference between having a plan as to how you'll run your promotion and having someone tell you how to run it. WAMMA just said that Fedor can only defend his belt against the winner of Barnett vs Arlovski. Think of the problems.

What if the winner ends up on a medical suspension and can't fight for a few months/until after Affliction 3? Too bad, that title defense will have to wait until then. If Affliciton wants Fedor to fight someone at Affliction 3, it'll have to be a non-title fight. That's always an easy sell, "come see the champion, fight someone in a non-title fight. No, he's not moving up a weight class or anything unique. We just can't call this a title fight because the champ isn't fighting the right guy."

The Barnett vs Arlovski winner could demand a new contract/crazy (make that crazier, I forgot how much Affliction is already paying them) money to fight Fedor, and Affliction will have to fold or there cannot be a title fight. For the first time ever, the contender will be as important to the title fight as the champ. The champ used to be way more important than the challenger because the champ was the only fighter you needed for a title fight. You could always grab a new challenger if the current one wanted too much money, and it would still be a title fight. Now, the champ and challenger are equally important to the title fight. I'm sure Affliction is pleased knowing that it'll have to appease 2 fighters in order to have a title fight.

Assuming there's no medical suspension problems or contract complaints and Affliction manages to have Fedor defend his belt against the winner of Barnett vs Arlovski at Affliction 3. And assume that Fedor wins, when can Fedor defend his belt again? If Fedor's opponent has to be ranked in the top 5 for it to be a title defense, Affliction is dependent on WAMMA's rankings for title defenses. Those WAMMA rankings will probably look something like this after that fight:

Champ: Fedor
#1: Noguiera (assuming he beats Mir, if he doesn't its even worse for Affliction because both Noguiera and Mir could potentially be in the top 5)
#2: Couture (if WAMMA was going to drop him for inactivitely/being retired it would have done so by now)
#3: Werdum (he's currently #5, and who's he going to lose to between now and January since he won't be fighting either Noguiera or Mir?)
#4: Barnett vs Arlovksi winner (the winner would have just lost to Fedor and I doubt WAMMA would drop them out of the top 5 for that loss)
#5: Sylvia (he's currently #6 & will probably leapfrog with loser of Barnett vs Arlovski due to his not fighting at Affliction: Day of Reckoning)

So, Affliction's options for a title defense could easily be either Sylvia, the guy Fedor walked through at Affliction: Banned, or the guy Fedor beat in Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Does either recycled main event sound like something that'll drive PPV buys?

WAMMA is bad news to any promotion. The little bit of added hype/publicity doesn't make up for losing control of your promotion, your fighters, and your championship belts.

Also, I wonder what would happen if a WAMMA champ lost in a fight that WAMMA didn't consider a title fight. Would WAMMA drop his ranking and strip him of his belt?

July PPV Battle Main Card: UFC 86 vs Affliction: Banned

The 2 big questions remaining in the in the UFC 86 vs. Affliction: Banned PPV battle are whether or not Affliction: Banned has a better main card than UFC 86 and, if so, whether that makes up for UFC 86 having a better main event.

When looking at the 2 cards, 1 thing immediately stands out in Affliction's favor. Affliction: Banned has 5 main card, non-main event fights vs UFC 86's 4.

The fights:

Cote vs Almeida or Barnett vs Rizzo

Cote vs Almeida - Cote has managed to shed his "big talent, but can't win in the UFC" label by winning his last 3 UFC fights, all of which were against quality competition. Cote has looked better with each fight, and the last 2 have shown off the heavy hands he was always hyped as having.
The only thing I know about Almeida is that he returned to MMA after a 4 year lay-off and managed to score an impressive first round submission.
I'm really interested in this fight. Its a big fight for both guys. If either guy scores a big, decisive (ie. non-decision) win, he might leap-frog Yushin Okami for a title shot.

Barnett vs Rizzo - Barnett is a rarity, a heavyweight with a ground game. He's one of the top heavyweights in the world (#4 if you believe WAMMA's rankings http://www.gowamma.com/rankings.asp).
Rizzo is your more typical big striker heavyweight. He used to be one of the top heavies in the world, but, at 34, he's starting to move past his prime.
I can't get that excited about this fight. Partially because I'm not a big fan of the heavyweight division (slow & one-dimensional).

Edge: UFC 86

Stevenson vs Tibau or Arlovski vs Rothwell

Stevenson vs Tibau - Stevenson is probably near the top of the lightweight ladder in the UFC. He faired as poorly against BJ Penn as most lightweights which ended his fairly impressive 4 win streak.
Tibau is also coming off a loss that snapped a win streak. Only his loss was to Tyson Griffin, and his win streak was only 3 wins.
I'm not that interested in either fighter. However, this fight should remind people how entertaining the ground game can be.

Arlovski vs Rothwell - Rothwell completely dominated the IFL's heavyweight division, and I'm really interested in seeing him take on higher level competition. Unfortunately, he's fighting Arlovski.
Going into Sylvia vs Arlovski 2, Arlovski had walked through he last 6 opponents and looked poised to dominate the heavyweight division for years. Then, he drops Sylvia with a big overhand right & moves in to finish Sylvia off, only his hands are a bit too low & Sylvia rebounds and finishes Arlovski with strikes. Since that fight, Arlovski has moved onto my "I won't pay to watch list" with uninspiring decisions against Sylvia & Werdum where he's looked extremely hesitant. Granted he's also stopped Cruz and O'Brien, but neither of them are top tier fighters.
WAMMA considers this to be a battle between the #6 & #9 heavyweights in the world, and I'm interested in how Rothwell will fair against top tier competition and whether or not Arlovski can regain his championship form. But, I can't bring myself to get excited about this fight. I can't shake the feeling that its going to be a lot of circling & jabbing.

Edge: UFC 86

Koscheck vs Lytle or Lindland vs Nascmento

Koscheck vs Lytle - Koscheck is the inaugural member of my "I won't pay to watch" list. He's getting better & moving away from his lay & pray roots, but he's still on the list.
Lytle's been fighting with a sense of urgency lately. He's 33 which means if he wants to make a title run, he needs to do that now. He seems to not only understand this, but to also realize that the fastest way to move up the ladder is to finish fights.
Lytle very entertaining fighter, Koscheck an "I won't pay to watch" fighter.

Lindland vs Nascimento - What can you say about Lindland? He's been fighting for over 10 years. He's a middleweight, but he'll fight anyone, anywhere. Hell, his last fight was against Fedor Emelianenko. He's a main card (& occasional main event) fighter that constantly bounces from promotion to promotion.
I've got nothing on Nascimento. I couldn't even find the guy on Wikipedia.

Edge: Affliction: Banned. That's how serious I am about the "I won't pay to watch" list. I'll take a fight with someone I know absolutely nothing about over a fight with someone on the list.

Griffin vs Aurelio or Nogueira vs White

Griffin vs Aurelio - This fight should exemplify my love/hate relationship with the lightweight division. It should be a very exciting, fast paced fight which will end in a decision.

Nogueira vs White - A very good light heavyweight who had a fantastic run in Pride vs a journeyman with a losing record. Why is a fight this lopsided on paper a part of Affliction's first PPV? My guess, Nogueira's there to provide star power & White's there because people know who he is and Nogueira needs an opponent.

Edge: UFC

Praying for undercard matches or Sobral vs Whitehead

Sobral vs Whitehead - This could be my favorite fight on the Affliction: Banned main card. Whitehead dominated the IFL and it'll be interested to watch he take on higher level competition. Sobral is a very good light heavy and proves that even guys weighing over 200 lbs can have a great/entertaining ground game.

Edge: Affliction: Banned