SB Nation User Blog: mattman73

How about a live chat with WAMMA?

mattman73 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:42:50 -0000

I would like to suggest a Live Chat with WAMMA representives on Bloody Elbow.

It appears there is a disconnect between what WAMMA is all about and what the common MMA fan believes WAMMA is all about. Srike that cause I don't want to speak for anyone else maybe I should just say at least in my opinion there is a huge disconnect between what I believe WAMMA is all about and what they say they are all about.

I think a live chat or something set up where we could ask questions and get answers would be a great thing. I think it needs to be something in real time though because a lot of times in the past interviews I have read they give answers but they don't really answer the question sometimes.

This could be a good way for WAMMA to get out their message and to explain any misconceptions anyone may have about them. Just a nice civil discussion.

For example I would love to know why they would consider sanctioning the Aoki vs. Alvarez fight as a WAMMA title fight.

Here is some things I would like to know about them sanctioning that fight.

I thought there was no official regulation of MMA in Japan. I am under the impression there is no Athletic Commission or something comparable overseeing MMA in Japan like there is in the U.S.

So will WAMMA as the Sanctioning Body for the fight then be doing the drug testing and supplying the referees and judges for the fight?

Or how exactly are the referees and judges chosen for fights in Japan? Surely they won't be directly affliated with the promotion holding the event.

Don't get wrong here I'm not saying there is cheating or anything else going on in Japan MMA but I would think WAMMA would want the the fans to know they are on top of all these things and that to get sanctioned by WAMMA the fighters definitely have to be drug tested and that the referees and judges of the fight are without a doubt unbiased.

Also would the fight be held under the same unified rules that the Fedor vs. Tim Sylvia fight was held under? I would think the rules would need to be the same for every WAMMA title fight so as to eliminate any doubts that one set of rules favors one fighter over another and could hurt the belts credibility as being Undisputed.

On the same note would WAMMA then require the fight to be 5 rounds lasting 5 minutes apiece? For the same reasons as above the fights need to be held under the same conditions to ensure that they can call the belt Undisputed. I mean I'm under the impression WAMMA's whole concept is based off of having Undisputed Champions. If all the fights are held under different rules then it will be pretty hard to verify them as Undiputed wouldn't it?

That is just a few questions I would have about them sanctioning that fight.

One more question I would ask though is:

Can you list all the positive things WAMMA has already accomplished to make the sport of MMA better since you formed?"

That is just a few things I would like to know.

Feel free to ask other questions in the comments and maybe WAMMA will see it and answer them if we can't do a live chat. Please keep it civil though. I really would like to have a civil discussion on matters like this.

Official Apology to Pat Miletich and WAMMA

mattman73 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:32:40 -0000

Last night I made a post that I considered to be a satirical news story and meant to be comedy and not taken as fact. Unfortunately maybe I didn't make it clear enough that the post was meant as satire. So I am providing a link to that post in question and am posting this disclaimer about that story to clarify and hopefully clear up any confusion over my post.

Here is the link to my previous post:

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/12/16/695167/josh-barnett-out-of-wamma

At the request of WAMMA I the writer mattman73 would like to apologize for any confusion this post may have caused. I made an attempt to write a satirical piece of comedy and it is my understanding that even though I stated in the last sentence it was satire that some people may not have realized it was comedy. The statement I attributed to Pat Miletich about suggesting the rule change to WAMMA's rankings policy was totally made up on my part as an attempt at satire. WAMMA in no way changed their policy on their rankings in any way I tried to represent. Those were my statements in an attempt at satire. I did no valid research on this comedy piece and to take anything in this piece as fact would be a mistake. I do hold Pat Miletich in high regards as an upstanding member of the MMA community and am sorry if I offended him. I am truly sorry for writing lame satire and for any confusion my post may have caused. If my attempts at comedy offended anyone at all I am sorry. Thank you to Bloody Elbow and I'm sorry for any trouble I may have caused for you.

I hope this clears up any problems that had been caused.

Josh Barnett out of WAMMA title picture

mattman73 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:52:55 -0000

Unfortunately Josh Barnett was caught up in the politics of MMA and is the latest causality of rankings manipulation.

Recently VP of Fighter and Promoter Relations Pat Miletich had this to say in an interview done by Dreamfighters.com:

DreamFighters.com: Why isn’t BJ Penn fighting for the WAMMA title? Isn’t he ranked #1?

Pat Miletich: Yes, BJ Penn is ranked #1 and nothing less than a superb fighter. But, BJ is moving up to fight GSP at Welterweight in January. Ideally, BJ should be fighting for a WAMMA title, be it in the UFC or by way of a cross-promoted fight within two organizations. However, given that BJ is moving up to Welterweight and the UFC will not cross promote fights, a fight with BJ as a participant is not possible at this time. At some point the question will arise as to how along a fighter can hold onto a #1 WAMMA Ranking in a weight division without fighting the top contenders in that division.

Under the recommendation of Pat Miletich WAMMA enacted the rule that to be eligible to be in the top 10 in a weight class you have to have fought a top 10 contender in the last 6 months.

So since BJ Penn had not fought a top 10 contender since 5/24/08 WAMMA voters can no longer vote for him in the WAMMA lightweight rankings.

As strictly the reporter I realize I shouldn't interject my opinion in this breaking story but I find 6 months to be an incredibly short amount of time to start considering such a move like that. Also this is just opinion as well but that move seems to be a move to manipulate the rankings to punish a UFC fighter. Which of course would contradict all of WAMMA's stated goals it wanted to accomplish for the sport.

Now back to the story at hand. As a result of WAMMA adopting that policy the voters couldn't vote for Josh Barnnett because he has not fought another top 10 Heavyweight since 12/31/06.

It is a very unforunate for Barnett that a rule seemingly meant to punish BJ Penn as a UFC fighter has dashed his chance at a WAMMA title shot. However under the advice of Pat Miletich WAMMA adopted that policy and if it should apply to BJ Penn then it has to apply to Josh Barnett.

Also another unforseen dilemma has come up. WAMMA has to decide if it's only previous WAMMA title fight should have ever happened because of this new rule they have adopted Fedor should have never been ranked in the WAMMA rankings because he had not fought another top 10 ranked opponent since 8/28/05.

On the Fedor issue WAMMA just basically has to decide if they want to be consistent in their policies and decide if this new policy should be applied retroactively. In which case if they wanted to be consistent in their policies and eliminate the politics of MMA they will have to strip Fedor of his WAMMA title and start over determining who should be awarded the WAMMA championships under this new set of rules.

I will try to stay on top of this breaking story to see how far I can go with this satire but ultimately this satire should point out a major problem with WAMMA's intergrity.

Who really stepped up for that Main Event at EliteXC?

mattman73 — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:51:56 -0000

Ya know what...

I'm getting tired of hearing EliteXC saying Kimbo stepped up, Seth stepped up, and they EliteXC stepped up to go ahead and make that main event happen.

First off Kimbo didn't step up they gave him a more money to fight a guy that was fighting on the undercard at a lower weight class. He fought because of the extra money they were going to pay him. Also it could have potentially hurt his reputation to turn down that fight because he is always claiming he will fight anybody anytime. So it wouldn't have looked good had he turned down a fight against an undercard fighter from a lower weight class. Not to mention I bet they pressured him in to fighting someone else even if he didn't want to for a reason I will get to in a minute.

Secondly same thing for Seth he didn't step up for the MMA fans. He done it because it was a great opportunity and a ton more money. He done it for himself more than anything else. Which I don't have a problem with but I don't call that stepping up in the way they are trying to make it sound. Now if he would have done it for no extra money I might have to agree with saying he stepped up.

My third point is EliteXC had to find a way to put on a Main Event fight with Kimbo in it or else they would have probably had to offer money back on those tickets they sold. Which they couldn't do because CBS footed the whole bill for the show just so they could put it on.

Why does that matter you might ask?

Well because in exchange for footing the bill for the show CBS got all the revenue from the show. So EliteXC didn't have any money to give the fans back if they had to cancel the Main Event. So to me that is why they found a way to get Kimbo in a Main Event more than any other reason. I bet they pressured Kimbo into fighting and sweetened the deal with more money to have to avoid the possibility of fans asking for their money back because they didn't have no money to give back. Not to mention they probably wanted to keep CBS as happy as possible because they would have done folded without that deal and canceling the main event would not have looked very good.

So in my opinion EliteXC didn't step nothing up to make that fight happen. They made that fight happen for their own reasons to cover their asses.

No way anybody is going to convince me any of the above mentioned stepped up to make that fight happen for us MMA fans. They all had their own reasons for doing it for themselves first and foremost before ever considering the MMA fans.

Another EliteXC conspiracy theory to ponder?

mattman73 — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:17:50 -0000

With EliteXC's admission of pretty much doing all they can to encourage stand-up fighting and to discourage ground fighting this past week is it time to look into all the questionable stand-ups that seem to happen during EliteXC events?

After they pretty much out right admitted they want exciting stand-up fights and seem to go to some what questionable methods to encourage that is it possible that those questionable stand-ups is something they could also have a hand in?

I'm considering this a conspiracy theory right now because I'm under the assumption that Athletic Commissions which the referees work for wouldn't take orders from a promoter on how to call fights.

Or is it possible for EliteXC to tell the referees working their shows to stand up fights very quickly even at the detriment to a fighter that seems to be in good position with complete control?

After reading Roy Nelson's comments about his fight and him getting stood up when he seemed to be in pretty good position and it wasn't like he was just laying there is this a question that needs to be addressed in that inquiry into EliteXC's tactics for promoting stand-up fights?

Is it possible for EliteXC to influence the way the referees call their fights?

Who keeps MMA promotions in check?

mattman73 — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:54:28 -0000

In Football and Baseball the sports writers are very much the caretakers of the sport. Every nuance is disected and debated virtually everyday. Scandal in those sports gets covered repeatedly and the individuals involved get hounded by the beat writers hoping to gather the next bit of information. They go to great lengths mining every available source to get the true story.

When the news of Spy-Gate broke for months Bill Belichick could not step in front of a microphone without being asked a question about it. The media pounced on the story. Fox managed to get a clip of one of the infamous spy tapes and it aired on one of their pre-game shows. The NFL commissioner wasn't happy the clip had gotten out and demanded all the tapes be destroyed. The media had gotten the evidence though and showed the public what was taking place. We the fans got to see it.

Are we to that stage yet in MMA?

For months I have heard how bad certain parts of the UFC's contracts are. I have heard rumors of certain clauses being in them. I have one big problem though. I have never seen a UFC contract to verify those accusations. How can we the fans have an intelligent discussion about the UFC's contracts if we have never seen one?

If the UFC's contracts are as bad as some people portray them to be how come Dana White doesn't get asked questions about them every time he steps in front of a microphone? I have a feeling if he couldn't fairly defend them in front of the media every day then they would get changed to where he could. How come there is no pressure on the UFC to defend their contracts and to discuss openly how they are treating their fighters?

I know we the fans keep the sport alive and make it grow but the media has to play a role in keeping the sport in check. I don't know maybe I'm missing something or I could be completely off base but I want to see the great reporters we have in MMA step up and start asking the hard questions and repeatedly asking the hard questions until they get the answers we fans deserve.

I guess all I'm asking for is for someone to show me a copy of an official UFC contract so that I can make an informed decision on how good or how bad they are and if they are as bad as some people portray them to be then for the media to step up and ask Dana White every time he steps in front of a microphone to fix them so that the fighters are getting treated fairly.

Who is Fedor's next opponent?

mattman73 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:55:15 -0000

Is this really a discussion?

Not anymore. Fedor Emelianenko is the Undisputed WAMMA World Heavyweight Champion.

That means his next opponent according to the official WAMMA rankings will be Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Oh wait... The UFC won't let "Big Nog" fight outside the UFC.

O.k. That means his next opponent according to the official WAMMA rankings will be Randy Couture.

Oh wait... He is tied up in a messy lawsuit and he can't fight anywhere right now.

Well next on the official WAMMA rankings is Josh Barnett. No problems with Josh Barnett fighting Fedor is there? Nope no apparent problems.

But rumor has it his next opponent could be Andrei Arlovski. While he did move up to the #4 spot in the official WAMMA rankings he is still behind Josh Barnett. How could there be a rumor Fedor is fighting Arlovski next? That just doesn't make sense does it?

If Fedor's next fight is going to be for the WAMMA title (which I'm assuming it has to be) then it would have to be against Barnett because he is ranked higher in the WAMMA rankings. I mean if they are wanting it to mean what they are claiming it means then they can't be letting him fight the lower ranked guy can they?

Unless somehow Arlovski passes Barnett in the rankings between then and now. With neither of them fighting between then and now I don't see how that would happen legitimately. But I suppose the voters could see that as the next best fight and somehow decide to change their votes to move Arlovski ahead of Barnett. That would of course be the beginning of the end of the credibility in the WAMMA rankings in my opinion though.

So it had better be Barnett if it's for the WAMMA title.

Or they can realize that involving WAMMA causes this problem of not letting them make the matches they want to make and they can throw WAMMA out on their ass and make their own belt.

Then they can make the fight that makes the most sense for Affliction and not for WAMMA.

WAMMA having a credible title belt...

mattman73 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:26:39 -0000

Am I missing something?

WAMMA has one belt in one weight class.

Don't they really need to have a belt in every weight class to be credible?

When they crown a champion in every weight class then maybe we can have this discussion but until then it's just B.S.

Besides WAMMA claims they are going to do all these good things for the sport beside giving us fans a so-called undisputed champion.

Well can one person tell me one thing they have done good for the sport?

No because all they want to do is leech off the established organizations by pretending to validate them with some belt that WAMMA will make money off of.

Same as above when they actually do some of all the stuff they claim they are going to do on their website then I'll give them some credit.

Until then they are a joke.

No Jail Time for "Rampage"???

mattman73 — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:00:25 -0000

No Jail Time for "Rampage"???

First and foremost I hope Rampage gets the help he needs and gets his life back together.

But there are a lot of other people involved in this situation. Specifically all the people he could have killed.

Where is the level of concern for their rights and what happened to them?

I keep reading people don't think he will do very much jail time if any.

I don't know.

Cause I still think it's 3 counts of hit and run.

I mean he hit 3 different cars and kept going.

If you kill 5 people it's not 1 murder charge it's 5.

I don't see the difference.

Each person he hit deserves to be accounted for with a separate charge don't they?(Whether it's felony hit and run or misdemeanor hit and run.)

Not to mention the 2 separate incidents of almost running people over on the sidewalk. Sending 2 different groups of people fleeing for their lives according to reports.

If your in the process of evading the police and you endanger people's lives in that manner isn't that another 2 counts of reckless endangerment or something?

I don't mean to pile on but I don't understand how those things can be overlooked.

Don't those people he almost ran over deserve to be accounted for also. To me it's almost like attempted murder. When you try to shoot someone and you don't actually succeed in killing them it's attempted murder. Well if they wouldn't have gotten out of the way it could have been murder or manslaughter. But he still tried to run them over no matter how you look at it. At the very least he put them in danger recklessly. Why don't they deserve to be represented with a charge accounting for the actions against them?

Now look I don't think this fits his personality and hopefully whatever is wrong with him gets straightened out but at some point you have to look at this from the perspective of the people he very easily could have killed and the need for them to be fairly accounted for also.

I know a lot of people are saying well he just wasn't in the right mental state and he should just get off with a some probation and fines or whatever.

Well to me it's 3 hit cars and 2 incidents of almost running people over on the sidewalk.

That is 5 times he could have very easily killed someone. Just because he didn't means we just forget about it?

What about all the people he could have killed do they think he should get off with just probation?

Any thoughts?