Skepticism and Shine Fights

Shine Fights may become infamous for putting together the second most famous card that never happened  (behind Affliction: Trilogy) when they lost their entire card following an injunction filed by Don King that kept Ricardo Mayorga (28-7-1 Boxing, 0-0 MMA) from making his MMA debut. It reads like a horrible straight-to-television comedy premise, but the organization battles on.

I got an email (unsolicited, but that’s typical) today confirming that their September 10th card has been finalized. Now, it’s not that uncommon for small cards to get filled out a week or so before the event. The media isn’t going to build hype, especially on the undercard, but people may come out if they’re local to check out some of the local fighters on the card, but Devin Price’s promotion continues to make me tilt my head to the side like Scooby Doo.

This is an organization that got my attention when they signed defending Abu Dhabi Absoluto champion Braulio Estima (0-0 MMA), who was also on the disappearing May card. Estima is not appearing on the card, and I’d be curious to hear if he, like David Heath (15-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC) hasn’t gotten his check yet.

The Shine Fights Promotions Grand Prix Tournament (a lightweight grand prix, though that’s not qualified in the message) was originally supposed to feature Marcus Aurelio (20-8 MMA, 2-2 UFC), but Aurelio pulled out with an injury. Aurelio would have been, by far, the most interesting fighter in the tournament, but that’s not really the point.

The point is made simply by presentation of the top of the tournament bracket. Charles Bennett (23-17 MMA), known to most as Krazy Horse, is far past his prime and has a well known history of legal issues. Drew Fickett (37-13 MMA, 4-3 UFC) is a similar story, though less colorful. He’s 3-7 in his last ten fights and has a history of contract issues.

The rest of the fighters in the Grand Prix are, simply, not that interesting. There are some solid fighters in the ranks, and I’m not taking anything away from them, but they’re not the kind of guys that the national stage really cares for.

The reason I’m skeptical of Shine Fights has a lot to do with their constant contract disputes and what that tells me about the management. Devin Price and Jason Chambers (yes, that Jason Chambers) may very well be smart guys who know MMA, but my default position is skepticism and when you’re running up against multiple legal challenges and continuing to sign felons and guys with a history of contract disputes to your company, it looks a little weird to me.

Still, I hope they have a great event on Friday. I won’t be able to watch it, but it will be available on pay-per-view at 9:00 EST/6:00 PST for those who are interested.