FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned from multiple sources speaking on the condition of anonymity that this Saturday’s “Godz of War†event that scheduled to take place at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, Carolina has been postponed.
Ticketmaster.com is no longer accepting ticket orders for the event and indicates that the event has been postponed. There is [...]
Have you ever wondered who was the better wrestler, Tito Ortiz or Matt Hughes? Or if Josh Barnett was tougher than Mark Kerr? What really happened in the controversial match between Ricco Rodriguez and current UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira?
All of those questions (and more) are answered in this outstanding collection of grappling matches from the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC).
Since 1998, the beautiful land of Abu Dhabi has played host to the Submission Wrestling World Championships. The ADCC World Championships are considered the pinnacle of ground fighting sports around the globe for world-class grapplers.
Take a walk back in time and witness some of the most competitive tournament matches in ADCC history.
THE FIGHTS:
Fabiano Iha -vs- Joe Hurley
Mark Kerr -vs- Josh Barnett
Roberto ‘Roleta’ Magalhaes -vs- Rodrigo ‘Cumprido’ Medeiros
Rumina Sato -vs- Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro
Vitor Belfort -vs- Genki Sudo
Baret Yoshida -vs- Wellington ‘Megaton’ Diaz
Matt Hughes -vs- Tito Ortiz
Jean-Jacques Machado -vs- Ricardo Arona
Ricco Rodriguez -vs- Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Noguiera
Eddie Ruiz -vs- Hayato ‘Mach†Sakurai
Mario Sperry -vs- Larry Parker
To check out our massive library of MMA DVD titles, including PRIDE DVD and UFC DVD click here. We also have Elite XC, WEC, Cage Rage, IFL, King of the Cage and other products for sale in our store. Looking for a title but don’t see it in our store? Email us and we’ll be happy to check its availability. Please keep in mind that we are only able to ship within the continental United States at this time.
We promise, no more Pit Fighting-related posts after this, but we wanted to officially drive the nail through the bowl-shaped coffin with these two videos.
First, the semi-final match between Ricco “#1″ Rodriguez and Travis Wiuff, notable for the classic line “I don’t like that jumping stuff.” The crowd shot at the 2:37 to 2:40 mark is priceless. (As is Ricco’s gut at the 4:45 mark.)
Also, here’s the dreadful Scott Ferrall announcing video that broke the Internet when we tried to post it from DojoTube yesterday. It’s up on YouTube now, and all is right with the world.
1. I hate their ring announcer. He sucks.
2. The cage is kinda cool.
3. Ricco Rodriguez is still fat.
4. Robert DeNiro was at Oleg Taktarov’s wedding.
5. I still hate the ring announcer. Somebody should choke him out.
6. Oleg by Kneebar.
7. Don’t fall down Butterbean!
8. I’m starting to kinda like the ring announcer.
I can’t help it. It’s not UFC, most of the fighters might not be “top contenders” these days, and maybe it’s just a bit cheesy, but I am super excited about tonights YAMMA Pit Fighting debut. They’ve done a super job at making two “superfights” that I am anxious to see. I never thought I’d get to [...]
10. ROB EMERSON Offenses: Was arrested in 2000 for his membership in the Lords of South County, a gang of Orange County rich kids who liked to assault innocent people for fun. Arrested again in 2006 after a dustup at a bar, and pled guilty to two counts of battery. His middling fight record doesn’t justify his UFC contract. Notable quote: “I got bent over and took it up the ass on a lot of bullshit judges’ decisions. But fuck ‘em, their faces were fucked up worse than mine. That’s all I care about!”
9. BILL GOLDBERG Offenses: His inexcusably awful work for EliteXC has brought MMA commentary to new, previously unimagined depths. Was reportedly abusive and obnoxious on the set of The Longest Yard. Notable quote: “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t give a damn about traditional mixed martial arts.”
8. BOB MEYROWITZ Offenses: Ran the UFC into the mud marketing it as the most outrageous bloodsport on Earth. Currently working to eliminate ground-fighting with the YAMMA pit. Has a history of losing investors’ money (see eyada.com). Notable quote: “On the streets it’s against the law — in the pit it is the law.” (YAMMA tagline)
7. GILBERT YVEL Offenses: One of the dirtiest fighters in MMA history. DQ’d once for eye gouging, once for biting, and once for knocking out a referee; laughed when he was arrested after the incident. Notable quote: “The referee…not a good thing, but memorable.”
Well, we all knew this day would come. YAMMA 1 goes down tonight at the Trump Taj Mahal Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, starting at 9 p.m. The live pay-per-view card kicks off at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, and the final-final-final lineup is as follows:
Masters Superfights (two five-minute rounds)
Oleg Taktarov vs. Mark Kerr
Patrick Smith vs. Eric “Butterbean” Esch
Heavyweight Tournament (one five-minute round in quarter- and semi-final matches; championship fight is three five-minute rounds)
Ricco Rodriguez vs. George Bush
Travis Wiuff vs. Marcelo Pereira
Chris Tuscherer vs. Tony Sylvester
Sherman Pendergarst vs. Alexey Oleinik
Alternate Bouts
Antwain Britt vs. Bryan Vetell
Lamont Lister vs. Oleg Savitsky
Standby Alternate
Ron Waterman
Weigh-ins were held yesterday, and Butterbean tipped the scales — and I mean literally, like the thing fell over — at a shocking 416 pounds, meaning he’ll have a 176-pound advantage on Patrick “Because I Got High” Smith. Ricco Rodriguez weighed in at 267.2 on his first attempt, but was able to make the 265-pound limit an hour later. So for those of you who were hoping Double-R would be in better shape than during his paunchy performance against Antonio Silva at “Street Certified” in February, not so much.
We haven’t previously reported on the alternate-bout fighters, so here goes: Bryan Vetell is a 3-3 IFL vet who had the honor of being defeated by both Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson; Lamont Lister is also 3-3, and has fought in Cage Fury and Palace Fighting Championships; Antwain Britt has a 3-0 record in local promotions; and Oleg Savitsky, the night’s lightest competitor at 199 pounds, has a 1-1 record with his loss coming at the hands of Tim Boetsch. Our money’s on Savitsky to win it all.
We’re guessing that the show pulls in 2,500 PPV buys, but we really have no idea what to expect. Sooooo…anybody plan on attending? Anybody buying the pay-per-view? Has anybody ever seen The Producers, where Bialystock and Bloom come up with the scheme to raise more money than they need for a guaranteed Broadway flop that will close after the first night? Could this have been Bob Meyrowitz’s plan all along?
Here’s a preview clip from tonight’s episode of Inside MMA, in which Ricco Rodriguez discusses his participation in YAMMA’s debut event (April 11th, Atlantic City). We’ve already established that the fight surface is a big bowl, but even Ricco still doesn’t know what the enclosure is going to be like, and doesn’t expect to find out until he gets there. For the record, if it turns out to be Plexiglass, Bas Rutten came up with that idea first. Also, horse-jockey Gary Stevens throws in his two cents, God knows why. (Props to TheMMAPost for the video.)
Bonus: Marcus Aurelio’s armbar of Ryan Roberts on Wednesday was damn nasty…
…and Manny Gamburyan is kind of a dick.
(Props: BloodyElbow)
YAMMA Pit Fighting just won’t give up. They’ve added former UFC champ and Celebrity Rehab star Ricco Rodriguez to their eight-man tournament, and they’ve also announced that Mark Kerr will take on Oleg Taktarov in a “Masters Superfight”. Exactly what Kerr and Taktarov are masters of is still unclear, though indications are that “Masters” is a kinder synonym for “old”.
But wait, it gets better. Details are emerging regarding the mysterious new surface upon which the fights will take place. The good news is, it’s every bit as ridiculous as we’d hoped:
The YPF surface, known as “The Yamma,” is an evolution of the traditional fighting structure and is designed to keep the fighting more explosive and continuous. In today’s MMA matches, fighters rush their opponents in the quest for a takedown, and the fight often ends up on the ground and pushed up against the fence. The action often stalls there, and must be stopped and moved back into the center of the ring. The Yamma’s design is specifically aimed at stopping this break in the action. The Yamma is a circular pit, shaped almost like a bowl, with a circular flat bottom that rises up around the edge. In this ring, if a fighter is pushed backwards towards the fence, he moves up the lip, gaining both a height and leverage advantage over his opponent. From this position, the fighter on the lip can use gravity and leverage to reverse his opponent, and take the fight back into the center without a break in the action.
If this is all a clever ruse by YAMMA founder Bob Meyrowitz to put on an event that is so strange and obviously ill-fated that people are too distracted to notice while he skips town with the fighters’ purses, then I think we can declare it a success. If the goal is anything else, then no.
Ignoring, for the moment, that “The YAMMA” sounds suspiciously like the surface in Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, I also have to doubt that it will work the way Meyrowitz thinks it will. The fact that he refers to fights that go to the ground and end up against the cage as ’stalling’ is troubling in itself. That makes me think that he is not a man with a real appreciation of MMA.
If you like fights that never go to the ground or end up against the cage, Mr. Meyrowitz, you should really check out boxing. I think you’ll love it.
But beyond that, haven’t we reached a point where we can effectively declare that the possible “surfaces” for MMA competition are settled? You can have a cage, preferably with eight sides and an even, flat floor, or you can have a ring. Meyrowitz says The YAMMA is “about the evolution of a sport”, but if the intent is to limit groundfighting, how can that be considered evolution? Does anyone out there believe that what’s holding MMA back is the lack of a big, sloped bowl for guys to fight in?
Apparently, yes, someone does. That someone is Bob Meyrowitz, and he seems pretty confident that your mind will be blown when you see Butterbean and Gary Goodridge square off inside The YAMMA. My question is, does it really count as “evolution” if the newly-evolved organism dies almost immediately?
We’re short on details right now, but this video was posted to YouTube yesterday with the description “A trailer for up coming Bio pic for Ricco Rodriguez.” Could this be Ricco’s version of The Smashing Machine? Or maybe it’s a promo for an upcoming VH1 spinoff of Celebrity Rehab — just like Flavor of Love begat I Love New York?
