One of the more interesting stories to come out this week was that of the progression of World Series of Fighting into a more traditional MMA organization, complete with title belts and tournaments for them. It’s a good strategy, of course, but it goes directly in the face of this weekend’s main event: a matchup of the two biggest names in the company that happens to work because one’s a heavyweight and the other’s a big light heavyweight who isn’t cutting weight for this bout.
Andre Arlovski vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is a bout of convenience between two fighters who happen to be similar size, the latter cutting to 205 fairly effectively, and it’s in this niche that the WSOF can find a way to whittle out part of the MMA marketplace from the UFC and Bellator: by being about great fights and nothing else.
Zuffa has traditionally been the place where the best fighters on the planet figure out who’s the best fighter, period. Odds are if you hold a UFC title you’re considered the best fighter in your weight class, period, and a Zuffa title is the fastest way to get onto to anyone’s ‘pound for pound’ list in MMA. The UFC is the place to be to get the biggest checks, et al. There may be some creativity when it comes to earning a title shot, of course, but by and large the best fight the best on a regular enough basis.
A Bellator title is nothing to sneeze at, either, but they have their own niche as well. To get a title shot you have to win the three month tournament, labeled the “toughest tournament in combat sports” because you have to win three fights in three months in defined bracket. Upsets happen but earning a title shot is less debatable: you have to win a tournament to get a shot at the champion. Being a champion in Bellator means something from welterweight on down; it’s easy to slot in someone like Ben Askren as one of the Top 10 welterweights in the world despite the fact that he hasn’t faced any of the UFC’s elite because of how good he’s looked there.
Both of those companies have established niches and the World Series of Fighting, content to find cast-offs from the UFC and those they can outbid Bellator for, is still finding its way. And right now aiming for a UFC-lite with a Bellator sampling isn’t a formula that’ll distinguish them from any of the other regional promotions looking for a piece of the pie that the UFC dominates.
Being a promotion that’s about great fights, and nothing more, will earn more fans and viewers than having “world title fights” between fighters who haven’t done much in the promotion due to its sheer newness. And it’s in Arlovski vs. Johnson that this should be apparent to anyone.
This weekend’s main event fight isn’t being made because it’s logical for either fighter; Johnson will be making his heavyweight debut (and moving back to LHW later) whereas Arlovski is looking to put together a notable win streak to try and capture the UFC’s attention one final time. It’s a matchup of convenience, nothing more, and in a couple of months both fighters should be lined up with meaningful fights in their own divisions.
There’s nothing wrong with this, either.
The WSOF doesn’t need to be about titles or tournaments. With the lack of talent available outside of Bellator and Zuffa for deep enough divisions to justify a title, or a tournament, the best way to maximize resources is to just throw on great fights between fighters. Not every fight has to be meaningful and the further away from the top of MMA you get the less meaningful titles become. The company itself is designed for fighters to flow in and out of through their MMA careers; Tyrone Spong is balancing his kickboxing career while fighting in the WSOF, among others.
Why go through the process of vacating titles, et al, as you hope fighters stick around instead of get poached by bigger companies? Making it about the sport, where the only concern is a crowd-pleasing product, isn’t a bad thing. It could give them the niche to carve out a sustainable part of the MMA pie: those just looking for great fights.
