My Take On MMA 4.13.08: Final YAMMA Pit Fighting (4.11.08) Thoughts
Posted by Larry Csonka on 04.13.2008
Good news everyone, I found the time capsule Bob Meyrowitz buried in 1994! Wait, this is not good news.
Introduction:
Welcome back to another edition of My Take On MMA! Over the last month we've had two solid SHOWXC events, a very good WEC, a very good Fight Night and a very good Strikeforce event. We've been on a roll and it has been fun. And then I checked the schedule and saw YAMMA on it. This was a show that seemed to be heading towards doom since the beginning. Butterbean as a headliner, I mean, seriously. Frye out and Smith in. Smith in a police chase and out, Goodridge in. Goodridge out, Mark Kerr rolls out of the buffet and in. Smith is back in after a plea-bargain I assume and that wasn't even anything involving the tournament. And then three days before the event they get Ron Waterman as an alternate, not there for the tournament or a fight, there as an alternate. This is going to be fun.
Final YAMMA Pit Fighting (4.11.08) Thoughts~!:
The Fight:YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarterfinal Bout: Sherman Pendergarst (10-8) vs. Alexey Oleinik (6-3) The Result: Alexey Oleinik via RD1 (4:18) Submission Final Thoughts: Pendergarst had the slowest walk to a fighting surface I have ever seen. It was a death walk, because he knew he wasn't long for the tournament. This was a very bland round that saw Alexey Oleinik get two takedowns and dominate a clearly outmatches Pendergarst. Oleinik got an over/under choke from the guard and that was it. Oleinik took no damage at all and was primed and ready to go for the semifinals. Kevin Mulhall wins the DUMBASS CALL OF THE NIGHT AWARD as he stood up the fighters at one point when they were fully exchanging on the ground. Wow…just wow. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0
The Fight: YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarterfinal Bout: Chris Tuscherer (11-0) vs. Tony Sylvester (10-1) The Result: Chris Tuscherer via Unanimous Decision Final Thoughts: Our second fight saw men with excellent records coming into the bout, and I actually expected a good battle here. Tuscherer was undefeated and trains with Brock, so I figured he would be throwing Sly around a good bit. While Tuscherer won an easy decision, simply because his opponent was all defense, and Tuscherer controlled with the takedowns, he could never keep his opponent down and just didn't know what to do when he did have him down for a moment. This was a very bad fight and Tuscherer appeared to be completely blown up after 5-minutes. That doesn't bode well in a tournament format. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 2.0
The Fight: YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarterfinal Bout: Travis Wiuff (47-11) vs. Marcelo "Pato" Pereira (5-0) The Result: Travis Wiuff via Unanimous decision Final Thoughts: Travis Wiuff said going into the tournament that if he could get two takedowns, he would get into the finals. Well, he got two in the fight and he won. Basically he made no bones about it, he said that he would lay and pray/hump and bump/sprawl and crawl his way to wins and he did just that. Yes I know it is all part of the game, and that it worked perfectly, but it makes for shitty fights. This was slightly better than the last fight, due to the fact that Wiuff did some stuff with his takedowns, but it wasn't good. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 3.0
The Fight: YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarterfinal Bout: Ricco Rodriguez (27-8) vs. George Bush (5-0) The Result: Ricco Rodriguez via Unanimous decision Final Thoughts: I know that you will be completely shocked when I say this, but Ricco Rodriguez came into the fight out of shape and just not looking good. That being said, out of the 7-guys in the tournament that we have seen up to this point he looked like a star and got a star reaction, the only one of the night really. Ricco took a few shots, but controlled with takedowns and slams and easily took the decision here. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.25
The Fight: Master's Super Fight Bout: Oleg Taktarov (13-5-2) vs. Mark Kerr (14-6) The Result: Oleg Taktarov via RD1 (1:50) Submission Final Thoughts: With the quarterfinals finished, we headed to our first Master's Super Fight of the night. The first man was Oleg Taktarov. Before the BODOG Russia vs. USA PPV in November of 2007, it was 9-years between fights for Oleg. He has been too busy playing the same part in 9-movies, Russian Intimidator/Bodyguard Vlad/Oleg/Generic Russian Name Here. But I actually wanted to see Oleg fight. His opponent was Mark Kerr of Smashing Machine fame. He looked like shit. Sure he was on drugs, but this dude was a gladiator with a huge future in MMA, and then it ended and it was so sad to see him looking like he did. Remember that high school quarterback that was jacked, everything went his way and he had all the chicks? And then remember going to the 10-year class reunion and seeing this same dude, but now he was balding, working as a used car salesman and resembled a caved in ashtray? Yeah, that's Mark Kerr now. Kerr actually came out like he had some skill and got a takedown early. He would then follow that up with a nice right that dropped Oleg and it was looking good. Unfortunately when he decided to go to the ground he was immediately met with a knee bar, and got tapped. Oleg admitted that he set up Kerr by showing his back and he took the bait. Not a great fight, but good to see Oleg get the win. His maneuvering on the ground was still good, and he along with Ricco Rodriguez were the only two that came off like stars on this show. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 6.0
The Fight: YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Semifinal Bout: Alexey Oleinik (7-3) vs. Chris Tuscherer (12-0) The Result: Chris Tuscherer via Unanimous decision Final Thoughts: In the redundancy department, this fight saw Tuscherer get a takedown, escape triangle tries from Oleinik, land soft body shots and hump and bump his way to the finals. It was what it was. Chris Tuscherer is still blown up. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 4.0
The Fight: YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Semifinal Bout: Travis Wiuff (48-11) vs. Ricco Rodriguez (28-8) The Result: Travis Wiuff via Unanimous decision Final Thoughts: Travis Wiuff followed his strategy by taking down Ricco two times and riding out his victory. Wiuff took almost no damage and didn't look very tired at all heading into the finals. Much credit to Ricco, even though he was out of shape and blown to hell near the end, he was constantly working for a win. I appreciated his effort, and at least he tried to make his fights seem like real fights. If that bastard could get into shape, stay away from the shit that messed up his life and actually worked to be a champion again, he could still be great. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0
The Fight: Master's Super Fight Bout: Eric "Butterbean" Esch (10-5-1) vs. Patrick Smith (14-13) The Result: Patrick Smith via RD1 (3:17) Verbal TKO Final Thoughts: You cannot be the evolution of MMA when you have BUTTERBEAN as your main draw. Seriously. Yes I know he has done MMA, and I don't care. He is a giant load of shit right now, and I have NO CLUE how an athletic commission allowed him to fight. But they did and we had the closest thing to an abortion that you will ever see from an MMA show on US PPV. This fight saw the hilarity of Butterbean not only trying to breathe, but him trying to throw LEG KICKS. Seriously. Smith owned him, jabbing in and out with shots and making Bean swing. Smith got a leg kick which SENT THE BEAN TUMBLING in almost slow motion, and then he landed on his face and was the closest thing I have seen to a real life beached whale. Smith laid on Butterbean and punched him until he turned purple, yeah, purple because his gigantic ass couldn't breathe and he tapped or verbally tapped or both. This was beyond shit. Oh, yes, I know it is coming. "Well, if you talk so much shit, YOU go fight Butterbean Csonka." Sure thing, get me a good payday and I am there. I can drop to 240 and do about the same thing Smith did, and if I do get knocked the fuck out, I will be well paid for it. I suppose some people liked this, and I get the spectacle of the freak show fight. But this was a giant man, who was out of shape and could barely move vs. a man that is fresh off of a police chase and shouldn't even be on a major MMA show, let alone in the marquee match. This set MMA back 50 years or so, thanks Bob. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 0.0
The Fight: YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament FINAL Bout: Chris Tuscherer (12-0) vs. Travis Wiuff (49-11) The Result: THE FIRST EVER YAMMA HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION is Travis Wiuff via Unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27,30-27) Final Thoughts: So we were at the tournament finals. Wiuff looked fine and took mo damage, while Tuscherer look completely blown up after both fights he had. Wiuff continued with his game plane, as he got two takedown and worked the lay and pray. He also obliterated the nice of Tuscherer, which nearly stopped the fight. I gave Wiuff round one 10-8, it was complete dominance. Round two was very boring with bad boxing. I was completely disappointed that Wiuff didn't go for the kill on Tuscherer, but we found out after the match that Wiuff broke his hand when he killed Tuscherer's nose, and he couldn't throw with any power. He got a takedown and controlled enough to take round two and I had him up 20-17. Round three saw both men blown up, throwing wildly and both connecting. THIS was actually a fight now. Tuscherer fought back in Rocky like fashion and the last 30-seconds were great. Tuscherer could have taken the round, but o felt Wiuff did more damage and I gave him the round and fight, which he took. Also, no one on the judging panel saw the first round 10-8, I guess they just weren't prepared for a fight to go past one round. The last round saved it from being horrible. Larry's Enjoyment Index: 5.0
The Overall: Best Fight(s): YAMMA Heavyweight Title Tournament Quarterfinal Bout: Ricco Rodriguez (27-8) vs. George Bush (5-0) 6.25
Worst Fight: Master's Super Fight Bout: Eric "Butterbean" Esch (10-5-1) vs. Patrick Smith (14-13) 0.0
Final Thoughts: This was NOT a good show in any way, shape or form. It is like they found an old UFC show in a time capsule, dusted it off and presented it to today's MMA audience. Production values were poor and bland, like an early UFC show. The lighting was almost pitch black on the audience, which means they drew next to no one paid. When you actually got shots of the crowd there were a ton of empty seats. The people that were there didn't react too much of anything, and I can't blame them.
The announcers Bruce Beck and Jeff Blatnick were from the old UFC and along with John Perretti sounded lost and confused, like they hadn't watched an MMA show since 1994. And if I have to ever hear John Perretti say, "I don't like this jumping stuff" in reference to a superman punch ever again I will fly to where they are and superman punch him in the larynx.
The tournament in my opinion was a failure. The one round format was horrible because if you could lay and pray/hump and bump/sprawl and crawl you could win with ease. The Master's Fights are a good idea in theory for nostalgia, but when Butterbean is the main event of your debut show you are not evolving MMA you setting it back. Was Dan Severn too busy grooming his mustache?
And then there is the YAMMA PIT itself. I appreciate the idea of a new fight structure. There is nothing wrong with trying to be different. All we heard all night is that, "there will be no boring clinches and no pinning a man against the cage. The incline will change the game completely." All it changed was that half the guys got tripped on the clinch when we got there, and they got taken down against the incline instead of against the cage. WHOOPIE~! The incline, or major design difference in the YAMMA pit actually made it easier for takedowns, easier for lay and pray. It did not make for more action filled fights. Nice try though. I will not damn the YAMMA completely. Actually if they had the ability to sign guys and you got a group of accomplished fighters used to the surface it "could" work. Could, but overall I am not impressed at all with it.
So we had horrible production, horrible announcing, and boring fights with some really bad fighters and again Butterbean. I remember ordering the Art of War III: USA vs. Brazil PPV in September and while it was fine, was not thrilled about paying for it. That show was WAY better than this one. YAMMA had the audacity to charge up to $35 for this show. BULLSHIT. I predict that they lose tremendous amounts of money off of this show.
