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CHARLES JAY
Commentary on MMA history….as it’s happening

What is required to read this story is the previous one as it regarded the solicitation of comments from Nick Lembo and the ABC committee that is considering rules implementation for mixed martial arts.

The first suggestion I might have for Nick and his crew might involve weight divisions. When this was discussed by me before, in a rather inflammatory piece, we explored the ramifications (and the absurdity) of the fourteen weight divisions put forth by what were then the influences behind this committee, or task force, if you will.

The point that I would like to put across - and which I should mention, a fair share of regulatory people understand already - is that these determinations are not concerns of primary importance for an athletic commission. I have to wonder what purpose they serve anyway, from the standpoint of actual regulation, except to stick a label on fighters, so when the announcer is introducing them, he can say “Three rounds in the (blank) division,” or something Other than that, there is no significance at all. I really don’t care if they want to call the 185-pound division this or that.

What I’m saying is that this doesn’t need to be elevated to the point where it is a “rule,” or is even uniform.

If the commission makes the decision that if there is such a weight difference between two fighters so as to make it non-competitive, that is their business, I suppose, and ideally that is not something that is necessarily written in stone, but rather, a consideration that is interdependent with other considerations, including the relative abilities of the combatants.

However, my point is that whether to call a fight a “middleweight” or “light heavyweight” fight on the final result sheet, and to fight hard to mandate that such a thing is uniform, really should be low on the priority list, and inasmuch as it may be an individual designation that could justifiably differ from commission to commission, it is not the subject of rigidity as it is imposed upon the promoter. In fact, it should not be imposed on the promoter at all. When you really think about it, the purpose served by these designations is as little more than as a tool to help them market the fights, in particular those that are conducted for championships.

I appreciate the way they potentially clear up confusion, but there is something inherent in the whole setup that may work more practically, from everyone’s perspective. What could be more universal, and could offer more clarity, than to refer to a guy as a “210-pounder,” regardless of who refers to him as a light heavyweight, a cruiserweight, a junior heavyweight, or whatever. The fans and the magazines can label it any way they want, and I’m trusting that some label will carry with it the eventual “standard,” and that standard will usually be controlled by the standard-bearer, which in this case, and until further notice, is the UFC, who nobody is going to dictate too much to.

Hey, that’s just the marketplace talking. Because when it gets to the point where it really matters, it is the prerogative of the promoter, who should dictate such matters unless they constitute a massive misrepresentation to the audience.

Let’s worry more about protecting the public from fraud and less about protecting it from 175-pound middleweights.