Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

In case you have any questions about who the toughest men in the world are, WAMMA asks that you simply check with them.

What is a WAMMA? you might ask, and the answer is the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts, a sanctioning body that was launched last year to promote unified champions and a standardization of rankings.

They are fine goals in and of themselves, however, from the beginning, there have been many who questioned whether the group would have any significant impact in the MMA world. On July 19 at the Affliction: Banned show, WAMMA gets its first real chance to answer that question when it declares the winner of the Tim Sylvia-Fedor Emelianenko main event fight the “WAMMA Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion.”

But will anyone in the mixed martial arts world stop to take notice?

If Emelianenko wins, WAMMA can boast as its champion the man that many consider the best heavyweight in the world. The 31-year-old Russian has a gaudy 28-1-1 career record. His only loss – back in 2000 - came as the result of a cut, and he also once had a no-contest against current UFC champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira because of an accidental headbutt. He is widely seen as a wrecking machine and holds wins over Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, and Mark Coleman, among others.

But that alone will not make him “undisputed.” Though WAMMA can say that he holds two wins over the UFC’s champ, the fact that he didn’t earn this “Undisputed” champ designation against another belt-holder is a bit problematic. He'd gain it beating Sylvia, who though a top heavyweight, has lost two of his last three fights.

An even bigger potential problem? What if Sylvia wins?

If Sylvia wins, sure he gets the rub-off from beating the nearly unbeatable Emelianenko, but then there is that pesky fact that Nogueira defeated Sylvia just a few months ago at UFC 81 in a UFC interim title match.

So how could Sylvia be an “Undisputed” champ ahead of a guy that very recently defeated him?

One of the biggest problems WAMMA faces is the fact that they need cooperation from Zuffa, which runs two of the biggest MMA organizations in the world, the UFC and the WEC. That cooperation will not be coming anytime soon. Zuffa feels like they have nothing to gain by helping the fledgling group, while their participation will bring it legitimacy.

And without Zuffa fighters competing in WAMMA title matches, the “Undisputed” tag loses all its meaning.

WAMMA ranks the top 10 fighters in six different weight classes, and of the 60 ranked fighters, 37 of them are from the UFC or WEC, including all 10 light-heavyweights. That means 62 percent of the fighters on their very rankings are basically ineligible for the “undisputed” championship tag.

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So how do they go about crowning a champ? The UFC will never allow its fighters to take a belt from the group, and in turn, WAMMA likely wouldn’t offer it to a fighter who they know will refuse it, so does that mean they can’t name a champ in the 205-pound weight class until the rankings drastically change? Probably so. Need proof? Just three months ago, UFC 185-pound champ Anderson Silva fought Dan Henderson (who at the time, still held the PRIDE 183-pound belt). In theory, if WAMMA were ever to establish its middleweight title belt, that would be the time, with No. 1 vs. No. 2. But they didn’t.

And later this week, the UFC will be hosting a light-heavyweight title fight between challenger Forrest Griffin and champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. While the Sylvia-Emelianenko matchup features No. 1 vs. No. 5, Jackson-Griffin does them one better, with No. 1 vs. No. 4. But of course, WAMMA is not offering the match its “Undisputed” championship.

That inaction speaks volumes.

Many fighters and members of the media have spoken out about the need for a sanctioning body to create undisputed champions, but until a real solution is found, it's clear that an organization that is going to play keep-away from two of the world’s top MMA leagues is the answer.

WAMMA will blame UFC for not participating, but Zuffa’s refusal to participate was anticipated from the beginning, and no solution seems to exist.

You can’t blame WAMMA for having a goal, but the execution of their championships leaves much to be desired. The organization ultimately hopes to promote the sport and help determine the best of the best, but in moving forward without a real plan in place, all they’re doing right now is adding more confusion to the situation.

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