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06-17-08, 4:06 pm
http://mmajunkie.com/news/4584/fedor-versus-sylvia-to-produce-first-wamma-champion.mma
The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) will stage its first title fight next month, with the winner of the Fedor Emelianenko versus Tim Sylvia bout emerging as the alliance's "undisputed world heavyweight champion."
WAMMA formed in November of last year as MMA's first sanctioning body with goals that include creating greater visibility for the sport and recognizing world champions in each weight class. The organization's first order of business was assembling a group of journalists and bloggers to rank the best of the best in MMA. (In the interest of full disclosure, two MMAjunkie.com staffers are members of the rankings committee.)
Emelianenko is currently WAMMA's top-ranked heavyweight, while Sylvia checks in at No. 4. They meet at the Affliction "Banned" show July 19 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The winner earns WAMMA's first title belt.
While the notion of an "undisputed champion" would ordinarily pit the top two ranked fighters against one another, No. 1 versus No. 4 is as close as WAMMA can get. Both Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (ranked No. 2) and Randy Couture (No. 3) are under contract to the UFC.
The battle between former PRIDE titleholder Emelianenko and Sylvia, former two-time UFC champ, is the first of what WAMMA hopes will be a series of title fights, but stringing together meaningful match-ups to create undisputed champions will be a challenge.
Of the six weight classes ranked by WAMMA, heavyweight is the only division not currently topped by a fighter under contract to Zuffa. The UFC and WEC have traditionally not worked with other promotions to make fights and appear to have little interest in working with WAMMA.
Steve Sievert is the Lead Staff Writer and Business Columnist for MMAjunkie.com. He is also the former MMA beat writer and blogger for the Houston Chronicle.
The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) will stage its first title fight next month, with the winner of the Fedor Emelianenko versus Tim Sylvia bout emerging as the alliance's "undisputed world heavyweight champion."
WAMMA formed in November of last year as MMA's first sanctioning body with goals that include creating greater visibility for the sport and recognizing world champions in each weight class. The organization's first order of business was assembling a group of journalists and bloggers to rank the best of the best in MMA. (In the interest of full disclosure, two MMAjunkie.com staffers are members of the rankings committee.)
Emelianenko is currently WAMMA's top-ranked heavyweight, while Sylvia checks in at No. 4. They meet at the Affliction "Banned" show July 19 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The winner earns WAMMA's first title belt.
While the notion of an "undisputed champion" would ordinarily pit the top two ranked fighters against one another, No. 1 versus No. 4 is as close as WAMMA can get. Both Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (ranked No. 2) and Randy Couture (No. 3) are under contract to the UFC.
The battle between former PRIDE titleholder Emelianenko and Sylvia, former two-time UFC champ, is the first of what WAMMA hopes will be a series of title fights, but stringing together meaningful match-ups to create undisputed champions will be a challenge.
Of the six weight classes ranked by WAMMA, heavyweight is the only division not currently topped by a fighter under contract to Zuffa. The UFC and WEC have traditionally not worked with other promotions to make fights and appear to have little interest in working with WAMMA.
Steve Sievert is the Lead Staff Writer and Business Columnist for MMAjunkie.com. He is also the former MMA beat writer and blogger for the Houston Chronicle.