YAMMA Pit
The YAMMA Pit arena was a large circular cage with a surrounding fence on the edges of a bowl-like floor with slanted edges. The stated purpose of the new structure was to prevent fighters from trapping their opponents into a corner: the rising edge of the YAMMA Pit was to prevent stalling and facilitate more action. This idea failed in practice, as the slanted edges would cause any fighter defending a takedown to lose their footing as soon as they were pushed towards it, which rendered any attempt to escape to their feet pointless as they'd just be taken down again. This led to a great deal of stalling with all but 1 of the tournament fights ending via decision (the other 3 finishes were non-tournament matches). Another factor which led to the slew of decisions was the fact that all of the tournament matches (except for the final) were scheduled for one 5-minute round. This was in order to assure no fighter would fight longer than 25 total minutes, something the New Jersey Athletic Commission stipulates (along with every other state that regulates MMA). YAMMA was largely a failure and was viewed by many in the MMA community as a terrible event that was put on by people who no longer had a grasp of the sport.
Read more about this topic: YAMMA Pit Fighting
Famous quotes containing the word pit:
“Let us put an end to self-inflicted wounds. Let us remember that our national unity is a most priceless asset. Let us deny our adversaries the satisfaction of using Vietnam to pit Americans against Americans.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)