UFC exec Marc RATner appointed to chair of IMMAF technical committee

UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner will serve as chairman of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation's newly-formed technical committee.

IMMAF officials recently announced the formation of the committee, as well as Ratner's involvement.

"I'm very honored to work with the IMMAF and help with formulating guidelines and instituting the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts throughout the world," Ratner stated. "As the chairman of the technical committee, our mission will be to have the same rules and medical standards wherever MMA is happening."

According to IMMAF officials, the technical committee "will have the task of researching and analyzing best practice in the area of MMA regulations for the purpose of future IMMAF recommendations and rule sets."

"We are excited to have Mr. Ratner on board as chairman of the technical committee," IMMAF president August Wallen stated. "Researching best practice and eventually formulating IMMAF regulations is one of the most important tasks ahead – and one we take very seriously. There is no one out there who is better suited than Marc Ratner to head up this work, and we are very grateful for his commitment."

A long-discussed nonprofit body aimed at furthering MMA around the globe, the IMMAF is based in Sweden and promises to remain a democratic, nonprofit organization. Consistent application of rule sets and safety measures are among the IMMAF's key goals, as well as the establishment of potential world championships, and ultimately, official recognition of the sport from SportAccord, an umbrella organization established in 2009 that strives to "unite, support and promote its member international sports federations and organizations," according to its charter.

While the IMMAF would not have any direct involvement in the professional side of the sport, by establishing individual national federations, the company could aid the UFC in its global-expansion efforts.

A democratic, nonprofit organization, the IMMAF launched earlier this month with an interim board of five members, including president Wallen – the former head of the Swedish MMA Federation – as well as Bertrand Amoussou, George Sallfeldt, Robbie Olivier, Carl Otto Knudsen and Tom Madsen.

The IMMAF is expected to work with other governing bodies around the globe, as well as to offer support to countries hoping to form such committees. The IMMAF hopes to grow membership to 25 countries by the end of 2012.

Sweden was recently introduced as the IMMAF's first member. The Norwegian MMA Federation followed shortly after as the second member.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/28447/ufc-exec-marc-ratner-appointed-to-chair-of-immaf-technical-committee.mma

This is a huge disappointment.

^^^^Indeed johan

Seems like its just another ploy, more like UFC lite

What are the Swedes thinking?

total finish wrote:What are the Swedes thinking?

On the swedish combat sports forums people don´t like that Ratner and the UFC are involved. Many fans and fighters think it´s a conflict of interest.

Of course it's a conflict of interest, much like every other power-play that zuffa and UFC have conducted. It's easy to see behind the curtains of what this is really about, world domination and control.

Mark Ratner wrote:"I'm very honored to work with the IMMAF and help with formulating guidelines and instituting the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts throughout the world."

Die in a fire.

ZuffaKiller wrote: the IMMAF is based in Sweden

Johan you know what to do.

Nice to have an "independent" governing body that is actually controlled by Zuffa.

Their goal is to standardize the Unified Rules for everyone. Is this Dana White talking or what?

F**k That!!!!!

This trash sanctioning body should be boycotted before it takes up off the ground. I had a feeling this was garbage when I first read that Zuffa was supporting them and allowing them to attend the event in Sweden.

What a joke.

wont last long if thats the case.

I don't see this going far. Seems like a cheap Zuffa ploy. I'd guess every one of the guys are involved with Zuffa (which recently staged their first event in Sweden, didn't they.) I think their non-profit status should be investigated. I don't know the laws with respect to this, maybe if they aren't directly profiting from Zuffa's activities and are instead just shilling for them it's okay (seems rather questionable though, even on those terms). Then again, the Swedish justice system has shown itself to be a sham in the recent Julian Assange proceedings, so who knows.

If it's twice as successful as WAMMA was it will be dead within a year anyway.

total finish wrote:If it's twice as successful as WAMMA was it will be dead within a year anyway.

Hopefully it dies much quicker than that.

We do not need a sanctioning body that is clearly controlled by a fight promotion and which is pushing for the Unified Rules throughout the sport. That is the Dana White vision for the sport and it is the worst vision of the sport I can imagine. The variety in rules and fight platform are awesome in this sport from ring to cage, from full rules, to PRIDE rules, to Unified Rules,.... Various rule sets are in nearly every sport on Earth and MMA should be no different. This keeps the sport from becoming stale and the same thing wherever you watch.

Talk about a conflict of interest.

The MMA media is on the UFC payroll too or those who aren't are too incompetent/afraid to do their jobs and point this out.

The mainly adolescent (especially after Brock's cross over) fan base is too stupid and immature to understand the issue.

Sanctioning bodies need to be free of promoter influence.

Also the unified rules suck, gives wrestlers too much of an advantage I feel.

I've told everyone for years this was coming and got ridiculed elsewhere. This has been Dana & Lorenzo's agenda from at least the day after Forrest & Bonnar smashed each other into a bloody pulp.

Complete and total domination of mixed martial arts worldwide through the extermination of all other organizations in a global MM-ethnic cleansing. They will settle for nothing less. Their goal is to purify MMA with a single Zuffaryan race. Their final solution.

Their ultimate goal is to create a totalitarian 'single-org state' governed by dictatorship. Zuffascism.

The only difference here between the Nazi's and Zuffa is that Dana White is both the Furher and his own Minister of Propaganda all rolled into one. Zuffa has no need to have an additional Josef Goebbels on the payroll.

The real sad part is, there is no sarcasm in any of my statements above. They're actually factual.