Shine Fights 3 Results: Against All Odds, Lightweight Grand Prix a Shocking Success

Well, color me surprised. After a long string of drama, including fighters pulling out and athletic commissions refusing to play ball, Shine Fights has finally held their third event. Much has been said and written about the constant maelstrom of controversy that has engulfed Shine Fights as of late, and Fighters.com has been there every step of the way. But the event has finally come to pass, and as someone who’s been a vocal opponent of Shine Fights in the past, I’ll give credit where credit is due and say that I was immensely entertained by their Lightweight Grand Prix.

When it all comes down to it, a card should be judged on the strength of its fights and not the problems it had going into the fights. What we got was an eight-man tournament filled with emotion, intensity, crazy happenings and shocking victories. It all started when Drew Fickett fought the very-tough Charles Bennett, scoring a dominating guillotine choke after an intense 3:34 of action. Then Shannon Gugerty fought (and lost to) Dennis Bermudez in an intense two-round war that at one point saw both men go careening out of the ring and onto the announcer’s table.

Not to be outdone, James Warfield and Kyle Baker fought three tough rounds that saw both men score significant shots, with Baker winning the fight despite having a noticeable gash on his head. The highlight of the night had to have been Warfield attempting a flying knee only to go sailing out of the ring. In another tough three-round war, Rich Crunkilton defeated Carlo Prater via Split Decision in a fight where (you guessed it) both men took a tumble through the ropes and landed outside of the ring.

In the first semi-final bout, Drew Fickett impressed once again. After goading Dennis Bermudez into a ground war, Fickett quickly secured back mount and locked in a Rear Naked Choke at 2:02 of round one. The second semi-final round featured Carlo Prater taking on Charlie Brown. The two men scheduled to fight in the semi-finals, Rich Crunkilton and Kyle Baker, both had to pull out due to injury. Brown had won a reserve bout earlier in the evening, but it would be Prater pulling off the surprise comeback, winning it two rounds to none and advancing to the finals in a Cinderella story that would ultimately and unfortunately be cut short.

Drew Fickett made it three-for-three in the finals of the Lightweight Grand Prix, immediately taking down and going to work on an obviously-drained Carlo Prater. After securing full mount, Fickett worked toward another Rear Naked Choke, and finally sunk it in at 2:02 of round one. An overjoyed Fickett celebrated in the ring and complimented his opponent, and ended the night by promising that he was “back”. A teary-eyed Carlo Prater congratulated Fickett and seemed eager to return to Shine Fights despite the tough loss.

So there you have it: I actually really enjoyed this show. It was a crazy night of fights, and while it was by no means the best MMA event I’ve seen this year, I think it warrants “sleeper hit” status. Shine Fights still isn’t off the hook in my book, but I’ll give credit where credit is due: they put on a very solid event. And as I’ve said previously, I’ve got nothing negative to say about the fighters themselves. In fact, I’ll go one step farther: all these guys need a whole lot more praise than I could ever provide for going out there and competing in such a tough tournament format and giving us some really good fights.

I don’t know where Shine Fights goes from here, to tell you the truth. This event proved that they can book a good show. It proves that they can make the most out of the talent they have available. It remains to be seen if they can overcome the avalanche of opposition they seem to be facing at every turn. But if this is the last we’ll ever hear of Shine Fights…they certainly went out with a bang. At the very least, you’ve got to give them that.

And what about you, fans and friends? What did you think about the Lightweight Grand Prix? And where does Shine Fights go from here?