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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The on-going saga with Shine Fights heading into Friday night's fight card continues, as MMARising.com reports that, despite Shine COO Jason Chambers' declarations to the contrary, all fighters participating on Friday's card will be subject to 60-90 day suspensions for taking part in an unsanctioned event.
The event was moved from Virginia to Oklahoma this week when the Virginia Athletic Commission refused to license Shine for the tournament. Originally blaming it on the "fan voting" concept for the first round of the tournament, Shine then blamed a thorough report from MMASpot.com about the issues still unresolved from their May event for bringing the concerns to the Commission.
The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission will not be regulating Friday's event, being held at the First Council Casino in Norman, Okla. The OSAC decided against regulating the event on the Indian reservation due to concerns over both the one night tournament format and the promotion's checkered past.
Because the unsanctioned event will not be held to the standards of a sanctioned event, the suspensions of 60-90 days are set for fighter safety as the organization may not have the required medical staff or insurance for fighters, or any of the other requirements of an officially sanctioned event. In addition, if issues with payment come once again for Shine, fighters will have no recourse with the commission not involved.
If Friday's event goes off as scheduled, it is set to air live on pay-per-view.
Penick's Analysis: Once again, I will be very surprised if this event actually takes place. If I were a fighter on this card, I'd be extremely wary of taking part in this tournament for a number of reasons. With the event now unsanctioned altogether, there may be no doctors to stop a fighter from competing later in the fight when they shouldn't. And knowing Shine's history of paying fighters with the May event, along with the suspensions they'll now face, there are mounting reasons why they should not be taking part in this tournament. I just don't know why this event has to take place right now or what Shine was hoping to accomplish with this card.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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