Axios reports that Endeavor, the sports and entertainment company led by Ari Emanuel, has acquired World Wrestling Entertainment in a deal valuing WWE at $9.3 billion. WWE will combine with Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts league that Endeavor took control of in 2016, to create a global fighting juggernaut worth north of $20 billion.
Pensacola almost became the epicenter for mixed martial arts in 2007 when Fred Levin came up with the idea to create the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA) to serve as the sanctioning body for the sport that would unify the champions of ProElite, EliteXC, HDNet Fights, Ultimate Fighting Championship, WEC, IFL, King of the Cage and BoDog Fights into one ranking system.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
Here is Duwayne Escobedo’s article from November 2007:
Ultimate Fighting Gets Behind Sanctioning?
What would you think of a world where the top ultimate fighters could tear into each other? Pretty cool, huh?
Well that’s not happening right now in the sport that Time magazine calls “one of the most sensational successes of 21st century athletics.”
The phenomenon emerged in 1993 and now brags it has more 18-34-year-old male viewers of its fights on cable than basketball, baseball, football, hockey and even NASCAR.
In fact, in the United States the pay-per-view revenues of MMA events were $223 million in 2006, more than wrestling ($200 million) and more than boxing ($177 million).
Asked to explain the sports meteoric rise in popularity, Dan “The Predator” Frye says it’s no secret.
The Mixed Martial Arts legendary gladiator says: “It’s a conglomeration of all fighting styles. Everybody comes in with their own way of mixing it up. And everybody fights like their ass is on fire.”
But one big problem exists in the sport. No it’s not the bloody, no-holds-barred mayhem.
The problem is a guy like Randy Couturea five-time Ultimate Fighting Championship champion and arguably the sports biggest larger-than-life figure CAN NOT fight, say, a Fedor Emelianenko, a Russian considered by many ultimate fighting insiders to be the biggest, baddest warrior the past four years.
Trust us, all ultimate fighting fans want to see this heavyweight collision. It would be the equivalent of Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, only bigger.
But Couture is signed with the sports leading promoter Ultimate Fighting Championship. And Emelianenko is the reigning champion of PRIDE Fighting Championship since 2003.
UFC and PRIDE are separate fighting divisions and competitors are currently unable to compete against each other.
Couture gave his inability to fight Emelianenko as one of the reasons for his shocking Oct. 11 resignation from UFC, although the media world focused on his hurt feelings over being underpaid at $2.9 million a year.
“I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC,” the 44-year-old chiseled Couture states in his resignation letter.
In an interview with Fox Sports, Couture continues, “It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he’s now signed with another organization, I feel like it’s time to resign and focus on my other endeavors.”
WAMMA!
What’s that? WAMMA stands for the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts.
Currently, there is no general sanctioning body for the sport.
So each MMA promoterProElite, EliteXC, HDNet Fights, Ultimate Fighting Championship, WEC, IFL, King of the Cage and BoDog Fightshas its own champion, own rankings and allows only its fighters to battle each other. With so many weight divisions and so many promoters, there are now more than 100 champions.
WAMMA, which has its roots right here in Pensacola, believes it’s the solution to unifying the sport, eliminating confusion within the fan base, providing more legitimacy so bouts are not scripted like in pro wrestling and crowning one true champion in each weight class.
David Szady, WAMMA’s president and chief executive officer, insists one sanctioning body would be good for the sport’s future.
He points out the WAMMA model would be the opposite of the boxing model where an alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies, such as the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO, has created confusion and contradictions among that sport with as many as 187 different champions that even the most knowledgeable boxing fans have a hard time keeping up with.
All other major professional sports have one unified sanctioning body, Szady says.
“We want to give ultimate fighting fans what they want, which is the best fighters fighting the best fighters,” Szady says. “This will increase the sports exposure, add unity and stability to the sport and it legitimizes the fights and champions.”
And Szady emphasizes that WAMMA will be an ethical, above-board, irreproachable body that “will provide objective rankings regardless of the promoter.”
Not so coincidentally, Szady is a walking billboard for straight-and-narrow, law-and-order. “Dragnet’s” Sgt. Joe Friday has nothing on this look alike, who is a retired 33-year veteran of the FBI. He served as the assistant director for Counter Intelligence, as the president’s appointee as the first National Counter Intelligence executive. And for two years he headed the CIA’s Counter Espionage Group.
It’s important to Szady to point out he knew nothing about this sport until earlier this year when he met Pensacola trial attorney Fred Levin and former NFL coach and football player Kay Stephenson for the first time, while working at Perot Systems. Levin and Stephenson are founding WAMMA members and among the top eight executives of the organization.
Szady says he has watched quite a few exciting ultimate fighting videos the past four months to learn everything he can about Mixed Martial Arts.
“It’s a great sport and the idea of looking at these fighters as athletes is the way to go,” he says. “It’s rapidly growing, exciting and a lot safer than people know.”
Michael Lynch, WAMMA executive vice president and chief operating officer and also a Levin Papantonio trial attorney, says the sport ranks No. 1 in Asia and No. 2 in Europe.
“It has tremendous potential,” he says. “Every promoter will benefit, or not benefit, depending on who they have. We will have our finger on the pulse of everything that is happening in MMA.”
But Szady and Lynch both recognize promoters may refuse to recognize their rankings or authority at the beginning.
WAMMA is scheduled to announce its existence and unveil its plans at a major press conference Nov. 14 at New York City’s landmark restaurant Gallagher’s Steak House in Times Square.
It’ll release its first rankings of the top 10 Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the world in each weight division Dec. 1.
If repeated unreturned calls and e-mails to UFC, HDNet Fights and ProElite officials by the Independent News are any indication, the promoters are wary of WAMMA or taking a wait-and-see attitude.
HDNet CEO Andrew Simon, whose MMA group is owned by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, says he doesn’t know enough about WAMMA yet to comment.
“I appreciate the opportunity and will be more than happy to help you in the future,” he says. “I don’t feel with the limited information I have that I can give a comment on WAMMA at this time. I look forward to seeing your story.”
Szady isn’t deterred.
“The sport needs us at this point,” he says. “We can be helpful amidst this chaos in the rapidly growing sport. We only have the highest intentions for the sport. We hope after the press conference several promoters will recognize us and we’ll be the sanctioning body.”
Of course, he admits there will eventually be money from purses, pay-per-view events and sponsorships of an estimated 20 to 30 sanctioned championship bouts a year.
And Szady admits MMA’s largest promoter, UFC, hasn’t met with WAMMA officials yet. But he says they are well aware of the formation of the sanctioning body.
He says no spat is wanted with ultimate fighting’s 800-pound elephant. But with all the promoters competing with UFC, it’s kind of like the National Football League and American Football League merging under one umbrella in 1970 after competing for star players like quarterback Joe Namath.
“We recognize all (UFC) has done for the sport and will continue to do for the sport,” Szady says. “It has taken a lot of sweat equity to get to where it is. Ford’s Model T was a good idea, too, but then there came everyone elseChevy, Chrysler and Toyota.”
UFC, which formed in 2001, earns credit for bringing the sport it’s huge popularity by cleaning up the rules and marketing itself with “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show on Spike TV, which is now entering its seventh season.
Time magazine’s Oct. 31 story says of UFC: “it has become all that professional boxing had ceased to be: well-run, well-marketed, with fighters who are seemingly happy to sacrifice their bodies and craniums for glory and relatively low pay.”
Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC co-owner, in a press conference in Las Vegas to dispute Couture’s contract claims says, “When we bought the UFC in 2001, no one cared. We were losing millions upon millions. But fighters have always gotten paid, we never bounced a check. Our goal was to pay a fighter a million dollars. Little did I know that would be the start of our problems.”
Fertitta adds: “There are a hundred people who work in this company who are proud of the fact that we are the industry leader and we have created a tremendous amount of opportunity, not only for fighters, but for an entire industry that now exists because of what we have accomplished over the last six years.”
MMA fighters, like Frye and Couture, say they just want to go to war against the most skilled challengers alive, regardless of affiliation. Frye, who’s part of WAMMA’s executive board, says he believes one sanctioning body is the best thing for the sport.
“We all want to fight Fedor (Emelianenko),” he says. “Athletes are competitive people. We want to fight the best. That’s what motivates us. I’d like to see all the promoters sign on to this but they may thumb their noses at it.”
That would be a mistake, Frye says in a gruff voice that can intimidate even across a phone line.
“This is a great idea,” he says. “I see this making (MMA) a legitimate sport rather than a bastardized sport.”
Not only does WAMMA officials believe sanctioning is good for the fighters, they believe it can help MMA become allowed in more than the 20 states that currently allow it.
Many states outlawed ultimate fighting when its unregulated five-minute and five-round fights in its early days were seen as a barbaric blood sport appealing to baser instincts. U.S. Sen. and Republican presidential candidate John McCain famously called it “human cockfighting” and set out to ban it throughout the United States.
Szady points out Dr. James Andrew, an internationally know and recognized orthopedic surgeon whose Andrews Institute is located in Gulf Breeze, will head WAMMA’s medical advisory board.
Szady hopes within the next two years WAMMA will ultimately become the recognized sanctioning body.
“The media and fans want this and will put pressure to make it happen,” he says.
WHAT IS WAMMA?
The World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts is a sanctioning body that will oversee Mixed Martial Arts. WAMMA will recruit the most qualified and credible consultants from business, professional and amateur athletics, medicine and sports journalism to govern MMA officials, establish rules, ensure the safety and welfare of the fighter participants and promote the sport. WAMMA will contract the rankings to an independent ranking board and WAMMA will not be allowed influence on the rankings made by mainly independent, knowledgeable sports media figures. The ranking board will select a Champion in each weight division and rank the top 10 fighters in each division. WAMMA will partner with Andrews Institute and its internationally recognized orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews will serve as the medical consultant.
WHO IS WAMMA?
David Szady – A retired 33-year veteran of the FBI. He served as the assistant director for Counter Intelligence, as the president’s appointee as the first National Counter Intelligence executive. And for two years he headed the CIA’s Counter Espionage Group.
Michael Lynch – Levin Papantonio attorney and one of the most knowledgeable MMA lawyers and advisors in the nation.
Bill Goldberg – Former All-American college football star, NFL player, MMA commentator, TV and movie actor and the most famous name in professional wrestling.
Don Frye – Current MMA superstar and winner of the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments.
Kay Stephenson – Former NFL football player and coach, including two years as head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
Godwin Asifo – MMA expert and manager of former WBA Welterweight Champion Ike Quartey.
Fred Levin – Nationally known trial attorney who handled legal matters and negotiations for Roy Jones Jr. He was Boxing Writers Association of America 1995 Manager of the Year.
Dr. James Andrews – An internationally known and recognized orthopedic surgeon for his scientific and clinical research in knee, shoulder and elbow injuries. He has served as a medical consultant for several professional, college and Olympic sports teams.
Source: World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts
WHO IS THE WAMMA RANKING COMMITTEE?
Sam Caplan – Philadelphia-based sports radio talk show host and freelance sportswriter. Contributing writer to CBSSports.com and FIGHT! Magazine on Mixed Martial Arts. Publisher and editor of MMA blog FiveOuncesOfPain.com and the co-host of “Inside the Cage Radio.”
Nelson Hamilton – A licensed kick-boxing referee in California since 1986. Also a licensed Mixed Martial Arts ring official in Nevada and New Jersey. He has been instrumental in writing the rules governing kick-boxing and MMA in California. He holds advanced ranks in both Judo and Hawaiian Kenpo. He is a contributing editor to Inside Kung-Fu Magazine.
Todd Martin – Has covered MMA as a sportswriter for more than five years with his articles featured in the Los Angeles Times, Wrestling Observer, SI.com and CBS Sportsline.
Stephen Quadros – An American broadcaster specializing in play-by-play and color commentary for the combat sports genre. That includes more than 70 international Mixed Martial Arts events since 1998. A longtime martial arts practitioner, he is currently color commentator and analyst for the International Fight League (Fox Sports Net, U.S.), Cage Rage (DVD, England) and World Extreme Cagefighting (HDNet, DVD, USA). He’s also co-authored or contributed to several books on ultimate fighting.
Mauro Ranallo – A Canadian sports announcer best known for his work as a play-by-play announcer for PRIDE FC and Showtime for Elite XC broadcasts. He has served as the lead news anchor and play-by-play announcer since 2006 for the Canadian combat sports channel, The Fight Network. He is known to MMA fans as the voice of PRIDE Fighting Championships PPV broadcasts in North America from 2003 until October 2006.
Michael Woods – Covers combat sports for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. He is also the editor of TheSweetScience.com, which focuses on boxing and MMA.