NEW YORK -- Anyone who has paid attention to boxing over the last three decades or so has born witness to the rise of "alphabet soup" sanctioning bodies that have undermined the sport and fueled corruption controversies reminiscent of boxing's unsanctioned bare-knuckle bouts of old.

With such a lurid history, every fan has good reason to feel leery at the mere mention of a sanctioning body joining the MMA fray. The recent unveiling of WAMMA, if nothing else, will serve as a litmus test for both the legitimacy and viability of sanctioning bodies in MMA.

WAMMA's President and CEO David Szady steadfastly maintains that this venture, despite being for-profit, is focused on serving the best interests of MMA.

"WAMMA hopes to break new grounds that will improve MMA by bringing increased unity, credibility and legitimacy to the sport," was Szady's opening salvo and the general theme at Wednesday's WAMMA news conference.

Admirable sentiments, but we've heard the same from a laundry list of figures in the past with little in the way of results. Whether WAMMA can achieve its stated goal of crowning undisputed champions through cross-promotional agreements will be the standard by which they are measured.

Although IFL CEO Gareb Shamus was on hand to support WAMMA, conspicuously absent was the UFC, which has an event scheduled just across the Hudson River this weekend. If WAMMA is serious about creating a ranking system with linear, undisputed champions, the UFC will have to come on board.

That's a dicey proposition given the UFC's failed talent exchange program with the now defunct PRIDE and also the UFC's general refusal to cross-promote with other organizations. The larger issue at hand, however, is whether independent sanctioning bodies have any place in MMA.

The preponderance of promotions in MMA has created enough confusion as is. Opening the door to sanctioning bodies, no matter how well intentioned they might be, may provide some short-term benefits, but you don't have to be John Nash to figure out the endgame.

If WAMMA can create a profitable business model, other sanctioning bodies will quickly pop up and undermine the legitimacy of one another while bandying about their own champions as the best the world has to offer.

While the members of WAMMA remain dismissive of such concerns, they are realities that must be dealt with. WAMMA's opening news conference provided little in the way of concrete answers. When cornered on the issue of how cross-promotional ventures would materialize, Szady suggested a grassroots system of support for WAMMA that would force promoters to satiate both the fans and media.

Cries of support for a unification bout between Randy Couture (Pictures) and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) have gone unanswered, however, and the UFC's brand name recognition suffered no ill effects from the mainstream audience that drives the promotion's revenue stream.

WAMMA is an unknown entity in the MMA world, and it will take time before the sanctioning group is in a position to exert any degree of influence on promotions that are in direct competition with one another.

Given that WAMMA's board believes their first unification bouts will take place sometime in the first half of 2008, they've given themselves a short deadline to accomplish something that has never before happened in MMA. Missing their own deadline will mean losing the support of the MMA fan base that they are relying on.

The path WAMMA has taken is fraught with obstacles that are many in number and difficult in nature. Given what sanctioning bodies have done to boxing, WAMMA will have to live up to its own hype if it is to gain the trust of skeptical fans and media members.

The idea of an MMA sanctioning body committed to the best interests of the fighters and fans while still protecting its own bottom line is, at best, a novel idea. At worst, the concept is contradictory and unworkable.

Either way, MMA has done well avoiding the mistakes that have damaged the credibility of boxing in the eyes of a discerning public, many of which can be traced back to the sanctioning bodies that were supposedly acting in the best interests of the sport.