I Survived YAMMA!

“YAMMA Pit Fighting,” the newest organization to make a go at MMA, had it’s first show over the weekend hoping to catch the eyes and hearts of MMA fans abroad. With an old-school tournament tactic, a newer version of today’s cage, and not to mention the big named fighters of MMA’s past, the night was set to surely impress and engulf anyone who watched. So what happened? Not much of anything for the the typical MMA fan, but from a comical view it was great!

From beginning to end, the show was by far the worst MMA production in a very, very long time. To start off the ring announcers voice had you wondering if this was MMA or a night at the carnival. If his voice didn’t get you laughing, then his sayings like “the guy in the red corner with the thick cross tattoo on his left shoulder” to ” fighting out of Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes, lets catch a snook” and ” drink a cold one for Ricco” was sure to have you rolling with laughter. The actual appearance of the show looked out dated, from the words on the screen (stats, fighters,etc.) to the camera panning away from the fights and into the crowd. Last but not least, one of the commentators made comments as if it were his first MMA event ever, like after a fighter threw a superman punch or a flying knee he said “I don’t like that jumping stuff” and “is his nose broke? No it can’t be broke because they would stop the fight, you can’t continue with a broken nose” I think you get my point. It just seems a little unprofessional to jump on the the MMA scene with such a minimal attempt to give the fans not only their moneys worth, but also an amped-up night of fights.

The new Yamma Pit Fighting cage was created to have fast action in the center of the mat and less holding and clinching against the fence. Ironically there was hardly any action and the new cage seemed to slow the fighters down. A lack luster night of fights to say the least. Though the cage did keep the fighters off the fence, the 3 foot incline at 3 feet away from the fence, seemed to also confuse the fighters as well.

The tournament fights were made up of 8 fighters, with the most recognized being the out of shape Ricco Rodriquez. All of the fighters to put simply are low-caliber fighters. Obviously leading to very boring fights. None of these fighters would last a second in the UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC,etc. I just can’t believe this was Yamma’s big night of fights to etch their spot into MMA. The best fighter of the night was Travis Wiuff(52-11), who won the tournament fighting 3 times throughout the night, gaining the new Yamma heavyweight belt. What this belt stands for in the big picture of MMA? I’m still not sure.

The highlight “super fights” were made up of 2 matches Oleg Taktarov, Pat Smith, Mark Kerr, and Eric Esch (Butterbean). If you don’t recognize the names it’s because most of their best fights were about 10 years ago. Oleg VS. Mark Kerr was the better of the two, which actually showed a little ageing power and technique. Oleg pulled off a kneebar to win. Pat smith VS. Butterbean was pretty ridiculous, though Pat smith showed he still had some power, Butterbean fell to the mat (all 417 pounds of him) and was unable to get back up. Literally he is so big he could not get back up to his feet, leaving Pat Smith pounding him till the ref stopped the fight.

There is really not much more to add except to say I survived Yamma. Hopefully they made enough money from the pay-per-view revenues to actually get some real talent. If there is a next time!