MMA Analytics 04.14.08: YAMMA/K-1 Analysis
Posted by Leland Roling on 04.14.2008
We check out this weekend's action in the newest MMA promotion, YAMMA Pit Fighting, as well as the K-1 event in Yokohama on Sunday in this edition of MMA Analytics.
This weekend didn't provide us with any quality mixed martial arts action from a standpoint of strictly cage fighting promotions. The newest entry into the North American market, YAMMA Pit Fighting, held its inaugural event on Friday evening and gave the fans of the sport an interesting new look at a different concept. The concept revolved around the addition of ramps to the edges of the cage. It was perceived that these ramps would limit the clinch and the use of the fence to pin opponents, and for the most part, it was successful in stopping those specific incidents. Unfortunately, it caused other issues to arise and pinning opponents to the ramps instead of the fence. Other issues included:
Ramps didn't do their job: The ramps stopped the fighters from using the fence to pin opponents, but they caused fighters to fall down and hit the ground much quicker than on a flatter surface. They also were being used much in the same way as a fence to pin opponents, and it was tough for fighters on their backs to regain the standup.
Tournament fights should have been longer: Only one round in the prelims and semifinals? What were they thinking? It didn't promote action like YAMMA had anticipated, but it did create the most boring fights imaginable. Fighters wanted a paycheck, and moving farther in the tournament likely guaranteed that. Lay n' pray was the style of choice.
Heavyweights was a bad choice: Unexciting, controlling, and happy with laying n' praying for most of the fight. I'm much more inclined to believe the lighter weights would be able to leverage the ramp.
Production was horrible: I loved the fact that the event seemed to only have two camera angles, one from too far away, and another that was zoomed in on the fighters too close.
Commentating was a joke: John Peretti did nothing but spew negativity from his mouth, mentioned Sherman Pendergarst was built like a sprinter, and said he hated "that flying stuff" after witnessing a superman punch. Blatnick wasn't that great, but he was at least venerable in his performance. Nonetheless, it wasn't an A or even D performance from the veteran commentating team.
Scott Ferrall... sigh: Although he brought a certain flare and hilarity to the ring announcing duties at the event, he was rather terrible after he introduced Travis Wiuff as... Travis I want a room with Wiuff.
YAMMA was an utter failure in every aspect of putting on a good show. Their idea sounded intriguing when we heard about it months ago, but it proved to be more problematic than actually benefiting the fans with exciting fights. Below are a few of the superfights, and the Ricco Rodriguez vs. Travis Wiuff matchup in the semifinals. Ricco never really takes much damage, but as you will see, the one round limit and the ramp combine to basically make Ricco worthless in countering Wiuff's control.
Butterbean vs. Pat Smith
Mark Kerr vs. Oleg Taktarov
Ricco Rodriguez vs. Travis Wiuff
K-1 from Yokohama: Mark Hunt returns!
At 1 AM CST on Sunday morning, I tuned in for the K-1 Yokohama event that was to feature the return of Mark Hunt to the K-1 ring against Semmy Schilt, Badr Hari vs. Ray Sefo, and a list of great fights on the undercard. Although not pure mixed martial arts in a sense that casual fans are used to seeing on SpikeTV, K-1 still produces some great events from time to time, and the Yokohama event had some barn burner fights.
Specifically, Semmy Schilt was crushing in his win over Mark Hunt. He used his range advantage and eventually caught Hunt with a spinning back kick that put the Samoan to the floor. Hunt was unable to continue, and Schilt took the win.
In the other anticipated matchup of the evening, exciting striker Badr Hari took on K-1 veteran Ray Sefo in what was anticipated to be a Hari bashing. Early in the bout, Sefo actually showed some speed and power by surprising Hari with quick blows. Hari answered back with stiff kicks and heavy hands, and Sefo became overwhelmed as he got cornered, leading to a stoppage late in the round.
Mighty Mo made an appearance against a much smaller Keijiro Maeda. Maeda was visibly scared of Mighty Mo during the first round, and Mo's huge haymakers literally unbalanced Maeda even when he defended against them. As the fight waged on, Maeda worked a brilliant gameplan of using his speed and kicks to gain the upper edge in points. The fight went to a draw, but Maeda eventually edged out Mo in the extra rounds by using the same strategy. Mo never really hurt Maeda, and it was definitely a disappointing performance for him.
In one of the most spectacular... or should I say funny bouts of the evening. Takashi Tachikawa took on Hiroyuki Enokida in the first bout of the evening. Words can't describe the hilarity, so check out the video below.
Final thoughts
It wasn't a spectacular weekend of MMA action. YAMMA was a complete disaster, and only boxing and K-1 were able to save my weekend from being a complete waste of time. I doubt we will be seeing YAMMA again considering the amount of money Bob Meyrowitz dumped into it. They could not have possibly made any profit on it, and I would bank on it being a horrible money pit for the first event.
K-1 was the upside this weekend. It produced some great knockouts, great wars, and set the bar for the road ahead this year in the promotion. I look forward to the next few events, and the sight of Melvin Manhoef in the ring again. It should be a good year for K-1.
Bob Meyrowitz reminds me of Bill Watts when he took over WCW. Like Bill back in '92, Bob doesn't seem to have kept up with the product he's trying to promote and still thinks he can do things exactly as they were done when he left. The production was so early 90s it was scary. See, this would be fine if YAMMA was on basic cable and everything was done with a wink and a smile in a "we know you're watching a couple of old dudes fight but you're not paying for it and it's all in good fun" kind of way. Instead it was treated seriously, which made it all the more difficult to take it seriously. This could be an interesting company but I fear Meyrowitz is too anachronistic to get it right.
One thing which isn't really their fault but is completely their fault all at the same time is the tournament format. From memory, the NJACB said that they could have a tournament so long as the longest any guy would be in the ring for is 5 rounds. So why have an eight-man tournament? Surely a two round tournament with two round semi-final and a three round final would be adequate? Alternatively, find a commission friendly to your idea of a fighter potentially fighting for 45 minutes a night and hold the show in their state.
As I said, they're anachronistic so picking heavyweights was symptomatic of that. As was digging out a few of your old friends to do commentary. For what it's worth, I think Bruce Beck is actually pretty decent as lead announcer and Jeff Blatnick wasn't all that bad. Peretti knows his stuff but the guy was always best as a matchmaker and not a commentator. Surely Jeff Osborne needs work now Bodog is dead?
The saddest part of the whole affair was Butterbean. Butterbean's not a bad guy, he was a decent club fighter in boxing but he shouldn't be in the cage anymore. A couple of years ago, Butterbean was around 380 lbs and he won a few fights against some pretty terrible fighters. However, now he's 35 lbs heavier and completely immobile. Unless he can shift 50-60lbs, nobody should let him anywhere near a cage. He doesn't seem to be learning to grapple anymore and it's just sad to see a proud fighter in such a state.
Posted By: Mike Farrow (Registered) on April 14, 2008 at 06:27 AM
You have to realize that the one round tournament fights aren't up to Yamma. That is up to the athletic commission. The rest is all their fault. HAH!
Posted By: []D [] []v[] []D [] []\[] (Registered) on April 14, 2008 at 08:48 AM
