With all of the new MMA organizations popping up around the world there are plenty of pretty gold belts to go around. But what exactly does the championship belt signify?

Every fighter that is serious about mixed martial arts aspires to one day have that big fat gold championship belt wrapped around their waist. As MMA grows and the fighters evolve so do the ornamental straps that signify your status as "Champion of the World".

In the early days of the UFC and Pride these belts actually said a lot about your status as champion of the world. But with more and more competitive organizations such as EliteXC, the IFL and Dream entering the picture, the weight of these belts must be measured a little more carefully.

We now have top 10 fighters competing in several different organizations which takes some of the meaning away from the phrase "Champion of the World". We are at a point in mixed martial arts now where the belt really only means that you are "Champion of your Organization". Of course some organizations (hmm…Dana) will argue that their fighters are the best in the world but that is just opinion.

There have definitely been some true world champions over the years and we know who they are. But the time has come to put into place a true world ranking system for mixed martial arts. Fortunately an organization called WAMMA is attempting to do just that. WAMMA or World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts is a new organization that is attempting to establish the first MMA world ranking system that is unbiased across different organizations around the globe.

Unfortunately for this to happen, every MMA organization will have to join forces with WAMMA. Many already have but others such as the UFC refuse to cooperate with such a proposal. Until then we will be stuck with "Champions of the Organization" and no one fighter will truly be the "Champion of the World".

When this eventually does happen which I believe it will, we will truly get to see who is the number one fighter in the world. Another beautiful thing about a world ranking system is that match ups could be determined based on true world rankings which would lead to amazing fights for fans of MMA. Don’t get to excited because it will be a while before this happens. It will take a lot of pressure from WAMMA and many organizations cooperating to fold the big boys of MMA and more specifically the UFC.

Until that day comes we will be stuck with numerous "World Champions" spread out among an open field of elite mixed martial arts fighters. No single fighter will truly be "Champion of the World" until this happens and many will be left to wonder what exactly their belt means in the big picture.