Official word came down early this morning that the New Year’s eve match between Shinya Aoki and Eddie Alvarez will crown the first ever WAMMA lightweight title winner.
Aoki and Alvarez are scheduled to compete on the Fields Dynamite!! New Year’s eve card that is a co-promotion between FEG and K-1.
“New Year’s Eve is rich in both history and tradition for combat sports in Japan,” stated WAMMA Chief Operating Officer Michael Lynch. “FEG officials have put together an amazing night of fights and WAMMA is looking forward to recognizing the winner of the Aoki vs. Alvarez fight as our first-ever lightweight champion.”
Lynch also added that while the Alvarez vs. Aoki matchup will determine the first-ever WAMMA lightweight champion that the belt will be awarded to the winner during a special ceremony to be held at a later date.
Aoki is currently the #2 ranked lightweight and Alvarez is the #3 ranked lightweight on WAMMA latest rankings. UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn currently holds the #1 WAMMA ranking, but WAMMA doesn’t think that is a problem in this situation.
The reports of the Alvarez vs. Aoki bout deciding WAMMA’s undisputed lightweight champion were not met with universal praise. Several critics have made the valid point that UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn is currently the organization’s number one rated lightweight, a designation he has held for almost a year.
“WAMMA’s board of directors supports the WAMMA pollsters in their recognition of B.J. Penn as the number one rated lightweight fighter in the world,” Lynch began to explain. “However, Penn has not fought since May 24 and isn’t scheduled to compete again until January 31. His Jan. 31 fight will be contested at welterweight against Georges St. Pierre for the UFC’s 170 pound crown. If Penn wins, UFC President Dana White has already stated that Penn’s next fight will be a welterweight title defense against Thiago Alves. Needless to say, Penn’s future as a regular competitor in the lightweight division is uncertain.
“With our number two and three ranked lightweight fighters scheduled to compete on one of the sport’s biggest stages, we felt that the fight was worthy of determining WAMMA’s first-ever lightweight champion. But we’re a fan-forward organization and we are aware of the criticism. If after the St. Pierre fight it becomes clear that Penn’s future is at lightweight, WAMMA will approach the UFC with the hope of facilitating a fight between Penn and the WAMMA lightweight champion.”
WAMMA, the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts, “is a multifaceted, fan and fighter-forward organization dedicated to promoting the integrity, legitimacy and longevity of Mixed Martial Arts.” One of WAMMA’s initial charters is to recognize a champion in each weightclass. Currently, the only other title WAMMA has awarded is the heavyweight title to Fedor Emelianenko.
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i like the idea of WAMMA recognizing a champ who probably deserves to hold the title, but the major issue is the UFC holding contracts to a lot of top ten fighters and they are not going to allow WAMMA to make matches for them nor will they allow one of there top dogs to fight some who is not under contract with them. remember when the invincible Chuck Liddell fought in the PRIDE middleweightGP? Dana would be forced to admit that someone whos not part of the UFC is better then his top guy in that weight class, and no way that’ll ever happen. man i would love to see the lines between promotions become blurred and have the promoter just suck it up and allow anyone to fight anyone, they can still make a bunch of money AND make the fans VERY happy.