Is WAMMA Lobbying ABC to Force Themselves on MMA?

With all due respect to Charles Jay, who is a first rate boxing writer, his view is a little bit hysterical. What WAMMA is lobbying the ABC for the accreditation of MMA sanctioning bodies in a similar manner to their oversight of boxing sanctioning bodies. Jay has probably forgotten more about boxing history than I’ll ever know, but he has conveniently forgotten that essentially the same thing happened in that sport when the ABC started to regulate sanctioning bodies and the result was not Federal oversight but a proliferation of sanctioning bodies. Granted, this opens its own set of issues but over time the number of groups seen as legitimate has been narrowed to but a few (the WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC for those of you scoring at home).

In other words, if anything a vigorous group of sanctioning bodies would likely make Federal oversight less likely and not more so.

The ABC is often branded as the “enemy”, but its important to understand their role in the process—MMA is already regulated by their member bodies in the US, and the goal of the ABC is to insure some degree of uniformity from state to state (eg: the unified rules) and to serve as a legitimizing function for the sport. They don’t have the authority to force their mandates upon their member bodies. You’ll recall some degree of overreaction when they announced some recommendations to amend the unified rules earlier this year—regardless of what they recommend the individual states have the authority to do what they see fit which is why states have slightly different regulations (particularly in boxing). For example, in some states the ringside physician has the authority to stop a fight, while in others it is the sole authority of the ref.

It’s obvious why the UFC doesn’t want to be part of WAMMA and why they oppose this type of sanctioning arrangement—instead of being THE promoter of MMA they become by definition one of many. They won’t be able to build up a random competitor from “The Ultimate Fighter” as a #1 contender when he’s really an overmatched opponent for a champion. At the end of the day, however, some sort of external sanctioning is necessary for the sport’s legitimacy. From a logical standpoint, the UFC has kind of painted themselves into a corner—they like to promote the establishment of the unified rules as a turning point in the sport, but they oppose external sanctioning.

Again, having external sanctioning bodies a la boxing presents a different set of issues and is by no means a flawless solution. It is, however, better than the status quo which is promotions serving as both manager, promoter and sanctioning body for fighters and their fights.

As far as the ABC, I get the impression that he is equating the ABC with a government entity or the federal government. Isn’t the ABC more of a trade association and a non-profit org?

Isn’t the ABC funded by the app fees and sanctioning fees? Why the concern for a “bail out”?

Seems misguided.

And why the fear that ABC would be a threat to UFC or influenced by WAMMA? Has anyone seen the new ABC committee?