Former New Jersey State Athletic Control Board Commissioner Larry Hazzard Sr. has helped create a new sanctioning body — Combative Sports Federation Inc. — whose rankings will include mixed martial artists as well as boxers, according to a press release published on multiple boxing sites, including Fightnews.com.
Hazzard, who helped in drafting the unified MMA rules, formed the new group along with former International Boxing Federation Founder and President Marian Muhammed. The CSF will also include Randy Gordon, formerly of the New York boxing commission, and Rhonda Utley-Herring, who previously worked for the World Boxing Council.
Hazzard said the following in the written statement:
“We have a very competent staff with the experience and passion for maintaining the integrity, health and safety of combative sports. Together, we have more than a century and a half of experience in all aspects of boxing. Championships chairman Utley-Herring and I authored the unified rules that professionalized the sport of mixed martial arts while at the New Jersey commission, when no one else would touch them and for me, this is just the next logical progression.”
It is unclear whether a sanctioning body will have much influence on the MMA landscape. Several longstanding websites already publish their own rankings, and this new sanctioning body might not necessarily add much to the discussion.
Also, the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts tried to establish itself as an independent ranking organization for the sport and enlisted the help of MMA trainer and pioneer Pat Miletich, but the UFC declined to participate and as a result, the organization did not sanction UFC fights as WAMMA title bouts.
Hopefully the UFC says Fuck off to this sanctioning body too. I’m probably being too cynical, but I highly doubt they’ll do any good for the sport.
I want to see Dana White’s rankings. His pound for pound list is probably 1. Brock Lesnar 2. Lesnar Brock 3. Brock Lesnar 4. Lesnar Brock and so on
[…] New sanctioning body to do MMA rankings, led by former NJ … Championships chairman Utley-Herring and I authored the unified rules that professionalized the sport of mixed martial arts while at the New Jersey commission when no one else would touch them and for me, this is just the next logical . […]