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This past Saturday marked the entry of what was hailed as the first independent sanctioning body in mixed martial arts, the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts. Its been a source of controversy since inception among many MMA fans, a large number of whom fear what happened to boxing happening to their beloved sport. What seems odd is that very few fans of MMA understand how the so-called “alphabet soup” of sanctioning bodies came to exist, much less fully understand how it is that YAMMA could change the sport. Before answering those questions reasonably, let’s briefly look at boxing and its numerous sanctioning bodies.

Throughout the first two decades of the 20th century, the concept of the “World Championship” in boxing was considered synonymous with the New York State title. Wanting to gain influence of their own, several states teamed up to create the National Boxing Association. In turn, both would sanction various champions as “world champion”, occasionally creating confusion. In addition, the International Boxing Union in Europe (today known as the European Boxing Union) also, on occasion, sanction world champion fighters of their own. Note that this was already an issue when such groups as the NYSAC and NBA were operating essentially as extensions of state governments, though it was admittedly nothing like the modern day.

Times changed and the NYSAC eventually left the job of regulating world champions to the newly empowered NBA. The expansion of the NBA internationally led to the organization reforming under the title of the World Boxing Association. Wishing more input from hispanic nations, Adolfo Lopez Mateos started a series of meetings that created the first split among independent organizations, as the WBC was formed. These two were considered for a time to be more than sufficient in judging in deciding world champions, however it was the decision of then WBC heavyweight champion Larry Holmes to abandon his WBC belt for the title of the newly formed IBF title. Much like the WBC before it, distance had created resentment for numerous American boxing officials, and their retaliatory strike was to eventually hand titles to many of the WBC’s recognized champions. Also during the 1970s, things took an ironic twist then the power center of the WBA was suddenly and violently shifted to Panama, away from the US, and back towards the nations whom had left it to start anew.

As you might expect, the WBO’s creation was, once again, the result of angry WBA officials splitting off to create their new organization. With cable TV and the international reach of boxing, more and more organizations sprung from nowhere to follow the lead of the WBO and create what seems like a critical mass of titles. Each of the major organizations is now affiliated or has created a regional power to authorize creating local belts, many of which are rarely ever defended in the originating nations/continents. For instance, Mike Mollo and Andrew Golota recently fought for the WBA Fedelatin Heavyweight Title in New York, despite neither being from a Latin American nation or of Latino heritage. This could all be expounded upon until we have something the length of War And Peace, but you likely get the idea.

And so, we come to WAMMA. How does WAMMA compare to the organizations of the present day in boxing? For one, they must have looked at the IBF and realized it would be a good idea to attach themselves to the best name in a division right off the bat. Attaching themselves to someone of the profile of Fedor instantly jumpstarts their reputation in the US, which could give them a bit of an advantage when its decided that they will create regional belts (something that is certain to happen). For two, they arrive into a marketplace filled with titles. As bad as boxing is, it is put to shame by MMA, where title belts seemingly outnumber competitors. Every promoter runs a “state” or “world” champion or a combination of both., whether its Sportfight, DREAM, Strikeforce, King of The Cage, Gladiator Challenge, Icon Sport, and the rest. Gladiator Challenge once gave Ruben “Warpath” Villareal the title of “World Native American Heavyweight Champion.” The alphabet soup isn’t there not because its absent, but because MMA’s promoters figure that if they aren’t easily abbreviated, its a lot tougher to make the apt comparison. Plus, its not like many of them have anything like rankings or ever sanction fights outside the home promoter.

Well, except Shooto. Forgot about them, didn’t you? They’ve sanctioned bouts in the US before (particularly in Hawaii, and also with Hook N’Shoot), have rankings, have titles, have a governing body, work internationally with numerous independent Shooto associations across much of Europe, so on, so forth. Shooto’s rankings may often not be the best, but they’re better than nothing at all. They aren’t the only “independent sanctioning body” out there today either. Boxing sanctioning body the NABC, famed for advertising the willingness to sanction title fights as a banner ad on Boxrec, sanctioned several such fights at CFFC 5. The ISCF have given out titles for years and update their rankings on a fairly regular basis. The IFC, now remembered for sanctioning/promotion numerous b-shows, sanctioned many of the earliest UFC events.

So what is there to do about such titles? Could something end the madness of hundreds of meaningless belts? The answer is shockingly easy in theory, but impossible in practice. The Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation, or OPBF, regulates boxing within Japan and allows bouts to happen, including title fights. What westerners aren’t typically aware of is the simple fact that the IBF, WBO, and other similar organizations are not allowed to sanction title fights in Japan. The OPBF decided to stay with the WBC and WBA alone following their split in the 1960s and haven’t allowed anyone else in. The simple way to end the madness of having 6-7 heavyweight champions in the sport is for major athletic commissions in the US to refuse the right to various organizations to have such “world title fights”. Such bouts could perhaps be held for regional belts, but not for world titles.

Were the state of Nevada to end the ability for promoters to create their own champions and regulate their defenses without allowing for all the things that are demanded of independent sanctioning bodies, the landscape would immediately change. But boxing has proven that the value of such trinkets is more to promoters in the short term than the health of the sport in the long term. With MMA’s current promotion specific current nature in the US and given the way athletic commissions have always reacted to the creation of yet another sanctioning body or world title, its unlikely we’ll ever see an end to the madness of the belts. For that reason, why not WAMMA? If not them, then it will merely be but someone else.