Fighters make weight for YAMMA - Kerr to Headline

Originally posted by MMAjunkie.com Staff [mmajunkie-staff] on Apr 11, 2008 at 9:23 am in

- News -

All participants for tonight's YAMMA Pit Fighting debut show have made weight for the event, including the larger-than-life Eric "Butterbean" Esch and main event fighter Mark Kerr, who was cleared for the event in just the past few days.

Tonight's event takes place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., and airs on pay-per-view. It's the debut show for YAMMA, which was launched by Bob Meyrowitz, the creator of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In addition to two "Master Superfights," tonight's event features an eight-man heavyweight tournament, as well as two alternate bouts for the tourney. Veteran fighter Ron Waterman is on stand-by as the tournament's back-up fighter.

Kerr, an early UFC and PRIDE fighter, was a late replacement for the YAMMA fight card, which has been plagued by changes ever since the initial announcement of the event. However, Kerr had been under suspension by the state of Connecticut after he failed to clear a pre-fight medical for an August Global Fighting Championships event, but he was reinstated and cleared by the New Jersey commission just this week.

Kerr takes on Oleg Taktarov in a "Superfight, and Patrick Smith and Esch meet in the other.

The heavyweight tournament, which includes a handful of former UFC fighters, will feature just one-round fights in the opening round. The modified format assures that no participants have to fight for more than 25 minutes throughout the duration of the tournament.

The full weigh-in results from yesterday included:

MASTERS SUPERFIGHTS

Mark Kerr (266.2) vs. Oleg Taktarov (221.2)
Eric "Butterbean" Esch (416.2) vs. Patrick Smith (240.0)

HEAVYWEIGHT TOURNAMENT

George Bush (231.6) vs. Ricco Rodriguez (264.6)
Marcelo Pereira (219.4) vs. Travis Wiuff (242.8)
Tony Sylvester (262.8) vs. Chris Tuscherer (264.0)
Alexey Oleinik (220.2) vs. Sherman Pendergarst (264.6)

ALTERNATE TOURNEY BOUTS

Antwain Britt (228.2) vs. Bryan Vetell (266)
Lamont Lister (212.6) vs. Oleg Savitsky (199.4)