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While this event on Saturday Night will mark the pay-per-view debut of Shine Fights, it is not the companies first ever event, as they have held two other MMA events in the past. Those two Shine Fight events, entitled “Genesis†and “ATT vs. The World†featured top MMA fighters like Junior Assuncao, Micah Miller, Yves Edwards and Roan Carneiro.
Besides the aforementioned main event of Din Thomas vs. Ricardo Mayorga, the Shine Fights pay-per-view also features Murilo Rua vs. Travis Galbraith, Eduardo Pamplona vs. Nick Thompson, Braulio Estima vs. Rick Hawn and Alexandre Ferreira vs. Jamal Patterson. The unaired preliminary card of the event will feature Elite XC veteran Charles Bennett, better known to some as “Crazy Horse.â€
With a solid line up behind its pay-per-view debut, Shine Fights definitely has an opportunity to succeed in the pay-per-view market, but will the promotion find a way to succeed where so many others have failed? In order to succeed where others have failed, the Shine Fights promotion will need to overcome a few potential issues that could be more hurtful than helpful.
The biggest obstacle the pay-per-view event must overcome is a live MMA event airing opposite of them on the Showtime network, which is Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery. The Strikeforce event is headlined by Alistair Overeem defending the Strikeforce Heavyweight Title against Brett Rogers. The odd battle between Strikeforce and Shine Fights comes down to a simple question, will the fans pay $29.95 to watch Shine Fights if they can watch Strikeforce for free?
Another obstacle that Shine Fights must face doesn’t even hail from the world of MMA, but from the world of professional boxing. As boxing promoter Don King is attempting to sue Shine Fights due to Shine Fights having boxer Ricardo Mayorga under an MMA contract, as Ricardo Mayorga is already under a boxing contract with Don King Promotions.
While most folks in the combat sports feel that the potential lawsuit is nothing but a financial ploy by Don King to extract money from Shine Fights, the situation could become a thorn in the side of the promotion that is getting ready for its pay-per-view debut. With a promotion needing nothing to block its path to a pay-per-view debut, Don King is definitely positioning himself in the trail.
The potentially biggest obstacle in the way of Shine Fights could be the lessons not learned by Ultimate Chaos in their lone pay-per-view attempt. While Ultimate Chaos entered the pay-per-view market last Summer with a big time main event between former professional wrestler Bobby Lashley and PRIDE veteran Bob Sapp, it offered no potential match ups in the future.
What Shine Fights has going for them heading into their first pay-per-view is potential offerings in the future for more potential pay-per-views. Besides the fighters I mentioned earlier, Shine Fights also has Derrick Noble, Danillo Villefort, Falaniko Vitale and Jeff Monson. The more talented fighters a company has, the better chances the promotion will have a bigger future, which Shine Fights definitely has.
Either way, on Saturday Night May 15th, Shine Fights hit’s the pay-per-view market, but will it succeed or go the way of many other failed MMA promotions?
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
