MMA Rankings Debate: Would Ben Askren Rule The UFC?

by Brian J. D’Souza special to Stiff Jab

The most prized possession in combat sports is the title of champion. It’s the reason contenders sweat and bleed in the gym, the goal athletes visualize themselves capturing, the plot point that allows Rocky Balboa’s momentous riseon the silver screen. It’s not just about being recognized as the best in the world—being a champion allows a fighter to leverage their position significantly by regularly defending their title in big money fights against marketable opponents.

As much as boxing is criticized for having an alphabet soup of titles, those titles can create value for unheralded boxers. For instance, former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins earned purses in the low-to-mid six figures until the lure of capturing various trinkets (among them, the WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight straps) attracted Oscar De La Hoya. Estimates on what Hopkins earned for his ninth round knockout of De La Hoya range from $10 million to $16 million dollars[HS1] .

Mixed martial arts is a sport lacking both and open discussion of fighter compensation. The issues are intrinsically linked; MMA in North America has struggled with credibility issues since the sport’s inception in 1993, when it was viewed as a throwback to the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome.

The UFC belt’s lack of cultural currency was laid bare at the most recent Super Bowl media day, when an NFL official surveying the belt attempted to kick the UFC delegation out of the event, saying “This is wrestling stuff, right? Yeah, we don’t want that associated with us and this event. This is the NFL.”

The UFC has marketed itself under the WWE model; sports entertainment rather than sporting excellence. A virtual monopsony,[HS2]  the UFC is suffering from diminished viewer saturation with the loss of major stars like Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, making this perception unlikely to change in the near future.

One of the most controversial developments of late has been the implementation of “UFC Rankings” last year, voted on by a wide swathe of MMA media members. The rankings are questionable, not only because they don’t determine title challengers in the UFC—but also because two top-ten ranked fighters, Jon Fitch and Yushin Okami, were cut from the UFC in 2013.

Without the UFC’s favor, a prospect has no realistic path to a title shot, as Jon Fitch learned the hard way after riding a four-fight win streak into his 2010 bout with Thiago Alves/ UFC bossDana White insisted at the time that the winner[HS3]  would receive a title shot against then-champion Georges St-Pierre. Fitch won the bout, but the title shot never materialized—nor did he have any leverage to obtain one, outside of public opinion.

In 2014, a question mark hangs over the UFC’s welterweight division: Johnny Hendricks will square off against Robbie Lawler at UFC 171 in March for the vacant UFC welterweight title—but will the winner of this bout be the best in the world? The answer must weigh the case of undefeated Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren (12-0), who has a strong claim as anyone to be the best welterweight in the post-GSP world. When Askren’s contract with Bellator came to a close last year, the UFC failed to sign him and Dana White devalued 2008 Olympian by saying “I think it’s crazy that he’s ranked in the top 10.”

When interviewed, Askren, he revealed a calculated insight into both his own plight and the question of whether the public should respect the UFC’s organizational titles as the pinnacle achievement in the sport.

“I definitely agree that the winner of [Hendricks-Lawler] should be ranked number one because I haven’t had the ability to prove I’m number one,” Askren said of the UFC 171 main event.

While Askren believes that he is the best welterweight in the world, there has been much speculation over why the UFC did not sign him. My personal opinion is that the UFC didn’t want to risk having the marquee welterweight division being ruled by a less-than-exciting grappler from a competing organization.

Askren points to Bibiano Fernandes at 135 lbs. and Bellator 155-lber Mike Chandler as top fighters outside the UFC who could give a good challenge to the UFC’s champions at their respective divisions, but remains adamant that the bulk of the sport’s top talent lies within the UFC. Still, the question fans have been asking for years remain the same—it’s just the names of the fighters that have changed—in this case, “What would happen if Ben Askren met the UFC’s welterweights?” Before that, it was “What would happen if Fedor Emelianenko fought the UFC’s heavyweights?” etc.

Without signing an exclusive contract with the UFC[HS4] —one stipulating a myriad of clauses favoring the promotion—a fighter cannot even hope to be in the mix to obtain the most recognized title in mixed martial arts since the fall of Japanese organization PRIDE in 2007. Worse still, both the UFC contract and the Bellator contract include a one-year matching clause whereby the promotion gets to retain their talent if they choose to match the first offer made by competitors (It was in this manner that Bellator laid a claim to lightweight Eddie Alvarez even after Alvarez’s contract with Bellator was up; the UFC has the right to pursue similar action with free agent lightweight Gilbert Melendez until a certain time period). [HS5]

Historical precedent doesn’t rule out an organization loaning their best fighters out to another promotion, like when the UFC entered Chuck Liddell in PRIDE’s 205-lb tournament in 2003. Liddell beat Alistair Overeem (then competing at 205 lbs.) but was stopped in the second round of the tournament by future UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Even though Tito Ortiz was the reigning UFC light-heavyweight champion (Randy Couture held the interim title), Dana White left Japan with his tail between his legs. It’s a lesson he might not be eager to repeat with Ben Askren, even if Askren is no longer with Bellator anymore.

The lack of world titles in MMA essentially adds up to promotions being able to cherry pick a stable designed to market the organization for TV-friendly fights (remember EliteXC and Kimbo Slice?) while avoiding the messy complications involved in letting no-name fighters challenge their top talent. Interestingly, Ben Askren not being signed follows the UFC’s historical pattern with wrestlers like Matt Lindland and Jon Fitch (who had a grinding style of fighting) being tossed from the promotion’s stable in previous years.

The question remains—are the world titles used by boxing better than MMA’s current landscape? Askren admits not understanding the system used in boxing where all eligible fighters are ranked by independent organizations for world titles, but he understands the underlying reality, “there’s a lot of corruption through boxing systems.”

It’s true: sanctioning organizations show no hesitation in duplicating titles in the same weight class. There have also been infamous scandals where organizations accepted cash in exchange for higher ratings, as the IBF was charged with in 1999[HS6] . At the same time, world title fights can become valuable commodities to networks like Showtime and HBO. This means that even unheralded or unknown boxers have both a chance to contend for a world title if they become the mandatory challenger and to make some money if a major network becomes interested in their fight.

Does this mean that world titles could eventually bring reform to MMA? The one memorable episode of MMA flirting with a world title came through WAMMA, which polled selected media members[HS7]  for rankings and appointed Fedor Emelianenko its heavyweight champion[HS8] . WAMMA went out quietly, abandoning its website in 2009; now it only serves as a punch line and a reminder of a poorly executed idea that had no effect on the MMA landscape whatsoever.

The best hope for the legitimacy of MMA as a sport comes through the idea of amending the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act to include MMA. The Ali Act contains a number of provisions [HS9] that would increase the credibility of MMA including stipulating financial transparency that would organically raise purses, eliminating conflict-of-interests such as managers acting as promoters and overseeing any sanctioning bodies that might come to exist in the sport.

Senator John McCain was succinct[HS10]  in dismissing the idea that the Federal government would take any role in reforming MMA’s broken system, saying “You want to be very careful not to encroach on the state’s abilities to do this regulation” at a recent Washington, DC press conference to publicize the Lou Ruvo brain study.

As things stand, Ben Askren has signed to Singapore-based promotion ONE FC where he’ll face second-tier opponents and get limited exposure stateside to build him back up into a possible UFC contender down the road. There is no incentive for Askren to challenge the status quo in any meaningful level—it would be career suicide to threaten the wrong people’s interests for any MMA fighter.

“I accept the way it is and work with it—positive or negatives—rather than trying to fight the system too much at this point,” Askren said.

Still, when Rashad Evans dropped out of his bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 170, 4-0 fighter Patrick Cummins was drafted to the cause. Ben Askren immediately took to Twitter[HS11]  to voice his thoughts:

“So I haven’t fought anyone, but a guy who is 4-0 and opponents’ combined record is 9-19 gets an immediate co-main fight. Let’s hear the real reason. Didn’t (want) a former Bellator MMA fighter to come and prove he is the best in the world!”

On a personal level, it must be devastating for Askren to see others ascend to heights of the MMA universe while he can only watch from a much smaller stage. Because the only question promoters ask of fans is “Are you not entertained?” the show will simply go on, as it always does.

Brian J. D’Souza[HS12]  is the author of the recently published book Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators of Mixed Martial Arts[HS13] . You can check out an excerpt right here[HS14] .

[HS1]http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2004-09-17/sports/0409170098_1_la-hoya-bernard-hopkins-oscar-de-la

[HS2]http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/1/15/5311326/georges-st-pierre-gsp-vs-the-ufc-monopoly-lack-of-support-dana-white-fertitta-zuffa

[HS3]http://www.mmamania.com/2010/8/5/1607874/winner-of-jon-fitch-vs-thiago

[HS4]http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1516575-the-business-of-fighting-a-look-inside-the-ufcs-top-secret-fighter-contract

[HS5]http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/10472493/gilbert-melendez-bellator-wait-see-ufc-match-offer

[HS6]http://a.espncdn.com/boxing/columns/graham/207931.html

[HS7]http://www.mmaopinion.com/blog/2009/07/14/wheres-wamma/

[HS8]http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/07/08/so-whatever-became-of-fedor-emelianenkos-wamma-belt-anyway

[HS9]http://www.ringsidebygus.com/ali-act.html

[HS10]http://www.fightopinion.com/2014/02/04/john-mccain-sig-rogich-motive/

[HS11]http://www.lowkickmma.com/UFC/ben_askren_pipes_up_about_the_ufc_signing_patrick_cummins_301857

[HS12]https://twitter.com/Thracian_Books

[HS13]http://www.amazon.com/Pound-Modern-Gladiators-Martial-ebook/dp/B00AQPZGE4/

[HS14]http://www.cagepotato.com/book-excerpt-pound-for-pound-goes-deep-into-the-lives-of-gsp-fedor-anderson-silva-more/