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07/04/08 - Feature: Has Dana spilt alphabet soup on the roadmap?

When questioned about the relationship between professional boxing and mixed martial arts, Dana White is fond of saying that boxing is his "roadmap of what not to do" with the sport of MMA.

He is alluding to the way boxing went from being one of the world's leading sports to a relatively niche interest in only a couple of decades.

Some recent huge fights aside, boxing has struggled to attract public attention in the past few years. Dwindling spectator numbers and a tarnished public image even prompted some commentators to wonder if the sport was about to die.

One of the problems that besets boxing is the fact that there are so many different sanctioning bodies. With the WBC, WBO, WBU, IBO and IBF and more, the public is presented with an alphabet soup of boxing organisations.

With each having a world champion of its own for the various weight categories, it is small wonder that title belts no longer carry the same air of prestige that they once did.

Another problem is that some organisations have champions, interim champions and the incredibly ludicrous concept of super champions.

Interim champions are declared whenever something gets in the way of the actual champion defending their title in a fight, usually against the leading challenger.

Super champions exist in some organisations where, after a certain number of successful title defences of multiple belts recognised by that organisation, they are declared a super champion. This can mean that they are relieved of a particular belt while keeping others, freeing titles up to be competed for.

Clearly this is stupid and it is no surprise that the public have voted with their feet in abandoning boxing in droves and leaving these tinfoil belts behind. So surely, with this example clear in your mind, you would hesitate to make any similar decisions?

That is why it is surprising that the UFC has recently gone down the route of declaring interim champions. In theory, selling a fight on the basis that it is a title clash will give it some added lustre and generate more interest in the clash. But does anybody really care about interim championships?

The people that win them don't seem particularly excited, as evidenced by the way George St. Pierre immediately disparaged the one he won against Matt Hughes and said he was only concerned with winning the real title back from Matt Serra.

As if the prospect of interim champions walking round with belts that look just look the ones worn by the proper champions weren't enough, MMA may be on the way to adding alphabet soup to its own menu.

The UFC and Pride FC were the big players in the MMA world until last year when Pride managed to go bust. Former Pride champions went to the UFC to fight, some acquiring a belt (Nogueira) and others losing the ones they brought with them (Henderson).

For many fans, such matches served as unification bouts and legitimised certain fighters as the unquestionable top of their weight divisions.

With undisputable and undisputed champions, all seemed well in the world. The UFC was at the top of the MMA pile, as were its champions and the streets of Dana's road map looked to be paved with gold.

However, in a few short months other organisations either emerged or became more prominent, in particular, long-time boxing promoter Gary Shaw and his Elite XC organisation.

The company, while still young, has made big gains in its short history and recently signed a broadcasting deal with huge American broadcaster CBS that Shaw described as the most important deal in the history of MMA.

Certainly it will serve to bring MMA to a wider audience, as the major broadcaster will screen MMA events in prime time Saturday night slot.

But as EliteXC has its own champions, we face a return to the days when internet message boards crackled with debates about who the real champions are.

And that picture isn't event taking into account the resurgence of MMA in Japan (DREAM, World Victory Road) or the fact that the man considered the best heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko, seems to have placed a moratorium on actually fighting anyone relevant (at the same time as AWOL UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture is making efforts to get a fight arranged with him).

For a brief moment, it seemed we had clear champions in a clearly dominant organisation. Now the burgeoning popularity of MMA has contributed towards distorting that picture.

"May you live in interesting times" is apparently a traditional Chinese curse.

We mixed martial arts fans are living in interesting times. Soup, anyone?


John O'Regan

Thoughts?

[the_dark_angel_4ever]

It's the natural progression of the sport. As it becomes more popular other orgs begin to develope. If you can keep it down to two or three it's not a problem really, anymore then that and it's tough for casual fans to know what's happening.

Looks at the hayday or wrestling. There was WWF, WCW, and ECW. wrestlers went between the three on occassion and it wasn't too confusing.

One big help woudl be if the orgs kept names like UFC, EliteXC, and Adrenaline. Names that are easy to remember and easily differentiated.

[Bigshanks666]

EliteXC may be gaining some ground but they are certainly nowhere near the UFC. As for EliteXC on CBS, I'm still skeptical as to whether or not it will be successful. The fact of the matter is that the UFC has the deepest roster in MMA and thus the ability to consistently put on good fights and put asses in seats. Kimbo can't fight in every EliteXC event. There going to need a lot more star power to compete with the UFC at this point.

[fedor]

Very well written article, I agree with most of it. One of the Interim champion was later promoted to undisputed (BJ) following Sherk tests. Another recent interim champ could well be promoted to undisputed (Nog), as we know that Randy won't return. The last one in recent history, (GSP) is the only one I disagree with giving an interim championship. I think it was Danas way of not having the last show of the year without a WW belt on the line as it was first scheduled to keep the belt/championship aromaof the event.

As far as the alphabet soup, I could see it happen but not to the extent of boxing. With the UFC's unwillingness to co-promote, we will not see these champions, against other champs from other orgs. People like Barnett, Cung Le (if he continues with a couple more wins), Jacare, Moussasi, Aoki, JZ, etc., continue to impress and win, we we will be back to the UFC vs Pride debates but this time it will be UFC vs. everybody else.

[the_dark_angel_4ever]

Originally Posted by Bigshanks666

EliteXC may be gaining some ground but they are certainly nowhere near the UFC. As for EliteXC on CBS, I'm still skeptical as to whether or not it will be successful. The fact of the matter is that the UFC has the deepest roster in MMA and thus the ability to consistently put on good fights and put asses in seats. Kimbo can't fight in every EliteXC event. There going to need a lot more star power to compete with the UFC at this point.

I'm all for getting more exposure to the sport but Elite on CBS wont last. MMA simply doesn't draw the ratings that CBS will be expecting. Even awesome cards like the few freebies that the UFC have had on Spike have nowhere near the drawing power of a Survivor rerun does. Sad but true.

[smoogy]

The author is mistaken, interim belts are nothing new in the UFC. Arlovski was crowned interim champ when Mir got in his bike accident, for example. The whole idea that the belts are the problem is kinda dubious, I think most people would agree that the boxing world has more pressing matters than the "super champions" thing