Yamma Pit Fighting Debuts This Weekend, Bringing Back Old Style UFC.

MMA is about to get another contender in the ever growing world of fighting promotions. Yamma Pit Fighting is going to be a lot different than most. First off, it is being run by Bob Meyrowitz, who was the major force behind the original UFC. Now back in my day, when i first discovered UFC via the local video store, it was basically a tournament of tough guys from various disciplines, or hell even some that had no discipline, they were just good at fighting in bars and such. The tournaments were great fun to watch, but did have some problems, the main one being, fighters who would would get hurt and couldn't advance to the next round, thus causing replacement fighters, and unfair advantages and disadvantages throughout the tournament.

Well, Yamma is bringing back the tournament format for the first time in years, and Yamma has gone with a new surface for this tournament, which will both make things more safe for fighters to continue on in the tournament, and keep the action non-stop. Basically the surface will be a bowl like structure, which will keep fighters from being pressed up against the cage for long durations during the fight, and force continued action. The tournament, will crown the first ever Yamma heavyweight champion, and will even feature former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Ricco Rodriguez. So we get a tournament, which were always fun years ago, and we get a champion right away off the first show, and hopefully that will mean no weight divisions in Yamma, which in my opinion, just take away from the excitement of MMA. On top of the 8 man heavyweight championship tournament, Yamma gives us 2 "Masters Superfights." Now this is another cool concept, that will take 2 big name fighters, some even from the golden era of UFC, and have 1 big grudge fight, to settle a score, resolve an issue, or maybe even start a new feud of sorts. Originally on this card, we had the return of "The Russian Bear" Oleg Taktarov, who was one of the legends of the original UFC, taking on Don Frye, who is also a legend from that era. Unfortunately, Don Frye had to back out of the fight due to an injury, so Mark Kerr, who is another UFC tournament winner, will now take on Taktarov, in Oleg's return fight. Also, Butterbean was scheduled to battle "Big Daddy" Gary Goodridge in the other Masters Superfight, but Goodridge cannot fight due to a loss in Korea he incurred a couple of weeks ago, so Butterbean will now battle Pat Smith, who some may remember for his impressive performances in the earlier UFC tournaments.

All the changes to the Masters Superfights, and even a few to the tournament, dont look good on Yamma, but I personally hope they can get past it, and give us a new MMA product to those of us who aren't fans of the super strict rules and regulations that UFC, and a lot of other MMA promotions go by. The tournaments were action packed years ago, and I'm sure they still can be. The early tournaments allowed small guys to showcase their skills, and take out guys twice their size, so why can't that still happen? And why not let some of the older guys that paved the way for UFC, get in the cage and prove they can still go, instead of being pushed aside for the latest young star. Yamma will hopefully blow the doors of opportunity open for guys to come in and prove themselves, tournament style, and give MMA fans a product based on pure excitement. With the people that created the early UFC behind this, I hope they pull it off, and Yamma tournaments will be a force in MMA, that will bring in many big name fighters, and contend with UFC, EliteXC, etc.

For more information, including the full fight brackets, check out YammaPitFighting.com.

LIVE BACKSTAGE RAW REPORT! SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!111!!

Thats right you guys we seriously are BACKSTAGE at Raw right now! We are in no way actually peeking over a fence on a hill looking at the back of the arena.... Here are some IMPORTANT SPOILERS FOR TONIGHTS RAW!!!

Some of the wrestlers, showed up wearing jeans. SERIOUSLY, JEANS!!!

The production trucks are here!!!!!!!

Santino and Orton showed up in a car together. But Santino was driving!!!!!!!!!! In a car!!!!!!!!!

You guys wont believe this but every superstar that is supposed to show up to Raw and has been regularly, HAS SHOWN UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

MEGA RAW SPOILER! HBK and Batista will begin their program together tonight! We know this cause were backstage, we didnt read it off wwe.com at all!

JIM ROSS AND LAWLER ARE LATE?!?! They are usually early to Raw tapings but, strangely, the were not early today!!

*Just to let you know, this shit is seriously stuff that wrestlezone is reporting today. Seriously. They honest to god posted a breaking news report that wrestlers showed up wearing jeans.

Fuckin Ryan Clark is a machine!!!!!!

Can Shawn Michaels and Batista Be the Best WWE Feud in Years?

Coming off the HUGE Wrestlemania 24 week, and probably the single best moment on RAW ever with Ric Flair's retirement ceremony, WWE has a much needed shot in the arm, that will maybe at least temporarily bring back some interest in WWE, which has failed miserably in the past year at least in my eyes, besides a few bright points. The Ric Flair Hall of Fame induction was great, his match at Wrestlemania with Shawn Michaels was great, and the RAW ceremony was top notch....but that leaves 1 big problem, Ric Flair is now gone, and him being gone takes away a top level wrestler, and maybe the most interesting storyline WWE had going, which was Flairs "Career threatening match" angle. One thing that caught my interest, for NO real reason, but it just caught my attention, was on RAW when Michaels was walking backstage, and looked over his shoulder, to see Batista staring him down. Now HBK has been pretty bland for quite awhile now, and Batista has been very boring as well in my eyes, up to his meaningless match with Umaga at Mania. But something ignited in the few seconds where Batista gave a cold stare to Michaels. Maybe it was the fact that it was a real STORY, and a GOOD story. Batista considers Flair a mentor, much like Michaels, and is in SHOCK that Michaels could be the guy to end Flair's career...makes perfect sense. Then during the ceremony, Michaels comes out, and we get just a SMALL little hint as the camera pans to Batista, who's in the ring, once again staring down Michaels JUST for a brief second before the camera pans away, but it's all just subtle hints, rather than the HORRIBLY TIRED method of "Wrestle A goes to ring, Wrestler B comes out, a challenge is made, and a match is set for "X" event."

Then tonight on Smackdown, the feud was set in motion, as HBK came out to do another sad interview about Flair.....until Batista's music hit, and he hit the ring with a purpose. Now in the Evolution days, I think Batista was a bad son of a bitch, and tonight, that was the Batista I saw once again. When he turned into the guy that was more about shooting guns during his entrance, and pumping up the crowd, he lost his purpose in my eyes. But tonight, we saw the Evolution Batista, who looked like he wanted to kill someone, and was sporting a sleeveless black shirt, which suited his gimmick and personality a LOT better than his suit look, went face to face with Batista, who was sporting some sort of sport coat over a tank top look....hmm, these 2 looked about as opposite as it gets. Anyway, Batista cut the most believable and realistic interview he's ever done....pointing out that all Michaels had to do was lay down, this ONE time, and Flair would still be here, but Michaels ego got in the way. And in a WELCOME return of REALITY to WWE, Michaels claimed that "he had a job to do, I did it".....then Batista shot back with "You had a job to do, and you DIDN'T do it......because you don't do "jobs." Wow, a shoot reference on WWE TV, its been years. Just kind of one of those things, if you're in the know, then cool, you get it, and gives the angle a LOT of heat when they walk the line of reality by throwing a term like that in. Batista really made HBK come off as an asshole who could have kept Flair in wrestling. It's a great story that fans can take in, then choose their own path as to who's side their on. No need to have a forced "good guy" and "bad guy" here. Just simply, do you agree with Batista? That Michaels could have laid down ONE time to save Flair, or do you agree with Michaels, that he did what Flair wanted, plain and simple. The other factor here is that I don't recall a Michaels-Batista program ever....which is a rarity, in today's wrestling where every guy has feuded with every other guy at LEAST once, and they've had at least 4-5 PPV matches.

I'm going to enjoy following this feud, as it takes me back to the good 'ol days of STORIES driving wrestling. Guys feuding over a specific incident or reason, not just a guy hating another because he has a belt. I think belts are great, they really drive the competition aspect of wrestling, but the stories have a huge place as well, and I think this feud will catapult both guys out of their stagnant phase, and will hopefully deliver a story that will give us tons of entertainment, and I believe Shawn Michaels can pull some great matches out Batista, and improve his skills greatly. Two thumbs up to WWE for the entire past weeks events, I'm enjoying the product for the time being, and look forward to having a renewed interest in both Shawn Michaels and Batista!