DaytonDailyNews.com

NEW YORK — Every once in awhile, a group comes forward with a plan to reform boxing, eliminating the so-called alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies and streamlining the sport in an attempt to save it from itself.

The attempts never get far, and the result is more than 100 champions crowned by several organizations in what often seems like a limitless number of weight classes. Fans, the few who are left, are confused and alienated by what was once the "sweet science."

Dave Szady and the World Alliance for Mixed Martial Arts want to avoid the mistakes made in boxing, by putting together a single sanctioning body that will rank MMA fighters, establish a set of rules, and perhaps most important to fans, sanction world championship bouts.

"You don't have those entrenched folks right now," said Szady, the CEO of the for-profit organization and a former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence. "You have the beginnings of the sport, and we're trying to help take the sport mainstream."

A worthy challenge to be sure, for a sport once called "human cockfighting" by Arizona Sen. John McCain. But is this just another organization trying to make a quick dollar on an increasingly popular sport?

Making money

In the last five years, spurred by the success of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its reality TV show, the popularity of MMA has soared. Last year it surpassed $200 million in pay-per-view revenue, putting it in the same realm as HBO boxing or World Wrestling Entertainment. Even small MMA shows draw several thousand at the gate.

The UFC, long synonymous with mixed martial arts among fringe fans, has suddenly found itself with a host of competitors: the International Fight League, EliteXC, M-1 Global and World Extreme Cagefighting, among others.

There already appears to be an alphabet soup of organizations, and Szady believes fans will soon become jaded by each organization claiming a champion, contract disputes, superfights that don't happen because of rival promoters — in essence, the ills that have befallen boxing.

"The athletes that I've spoken with are excited" about WAMMA, said Pat Miletich, a well-known MMA trainer whose fighters compete in the UFC and smaller organizations. "These guys deserve the right to fight each other, no matter what organization they are with."

It all sounds good in theory, but conspicuously absent from a recent news conference announcing WAMMA at a midtown Manhattan steakhouse was any representation from the UFC, even though it was promoting a pay-per-view card that weekend not far away in Trenton, N.J.

The UFC, which in the early 1990s first showcased MMA to an American audience, was responsible for bringing the sport back several years ago. It worked meticulously to popularize the combat sport, working with state athletic commissions to get fights approved.

It's been the face of the sport ever since, signing most of the top fighters and putting on mega pay-per-views, and is understandably wary of an outsider looking for a cut of the profits.

"Sanctioning bodies are what killed boxing. They're a virus in this sport," said UFC president Dana White, who got his start in boxing. "Nobody wants that for this sport. It's one of the beautiful things about this sport right now. It doesn't have all the dirty, greedy stuff."

White sees WAMMA as one of several organizations "coming out of the woodwork to make a buck out of this thing," and worries that it will breed other sanctioning bodies.

"Maybe there's other organizations that want to use (WAMMA)," White said. "We'll never be involved."

IFL chief executive Jay Larkin said he has no problem cross-promoting — his organization is already working with Mark Cuban's HDNet Fights — but can't see how the UFC has anything to gain from an overarching sanctioning body.

"That to me, in this moment, appears to be the fatal flaw," Larkin said.

UFC strong enough

Szady and WAMMA founding partner Michael Lynch understand what they're up against. They say their goal isn't to take money from the promoters, but to generate revenue from a sponsored title belt given to a single champion in each weight class.

And while they realize the UFC and other organizations are reticent to join, their hope is that fans will begin to demand fights that promoters can't deliver by themselves.

"At least they didn't throw us on the curb" after a meeting, Lynch said of the UFC.

A few years back, people were clamoring for PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva to fight UFC champion Chuck Liddell. That fight will finally happen on Dec. 29, but only after the UFC bought out the Japanese promotion. Both fighters are coming off losses and the matchup has lost much of its luster.

"Fans will want to see matchups (the UFC) can't make," said Andrew Simon, CEO of HDNet Fights, who added that his organization is reluctant to join the alliance as well. "(But) I don't know that WAMMA solves that, either, if Dana doesn't want to be a part of it."

WAMMA does pack plenty of name recognition, with several notable figures from boxing coming on board to help avoid the problems that spoiled their sport.

Its medical advisory board is headed by renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, and its legal counsel is Fred Levin, who worked for years with former boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. Others involved include boxing promoter Godwin Asifo and Kay Stephenson, former coach of the Buffalo Bills.

The inclusion of Andrews, who has worked for years with athletes from more mainstream sports like Major League Baseball, comes at a time when safety and unified rules are once again a major issue in the sport.

Sam Vasquez of Houston was injured at a Renegades Extreme Fighting show in Houston on Oct. 20 and died about six weeks later. The 35-year-old's death is believed to be the first linked to a sanctioned mixed martial arts bout.

WAMMA will release its first rankings on Monday and will include fighters from all organizations, even those that want no part of it. The alliance hopes to schedule its first world championship bout in mid-2008, and eventually help put together 20-25 title fights a year.

"This has nothing to do with interfering with the financial stream of the UFC or any of the promoters," said Szady, stressing that each organization will remain autonomous and that WAMMA will have no part in promoting fights.

Rather, it is a concerted effort to prevent mixed martial arts from fracturing, alienating its fans and finding itself with the same tarnished image as boxing.

"I think there's other potential there," Szady continued, "and what I really believe is that if the UFC maintains the sport the way it is, I don't know how long it will remain popular."