In the words of Samuel L. Jackson, from Jurassic Park, "things could have gone worse, a whole lot worse."

For Shine Fights their inaugural event, Genesis, was a mixed bag of things done well and things done poorly but overall a solid debut for a new MMA organization.

Let's start with the bad news.

The most systemic flaw the organization made was holding the event in the Celeste Center at the Ohio Expo Center. The building is essentially a five story barn over the length of a football field. The problem arises in the fact that all the open space killed whatever atmosphere could have been created. All the energy of the fans was routinely snuffed out by the vacuum of dead air that hung over everything. The positive is that the organization was able to draw a well educated MMA crowd. But during two successive fights, where little action occurred, the building felt like a morgue.

Now let's talk about tickets. A general admission ticket cost $55 not bad for a UFC show but for an organizations first show that price seems a little high. Especially when you consider that Bellator held a show in Dayton and the general admission tickets only cost $25. I am privy to their economic data or model but it just seemed excessive. Shine did get a decent turnout so perhaps their price structure was correct.

Shine did several things really well. The cage was lighted perfectly , they had an excellent camera and technical crew which provided quick replays. Music was plentiful and well chosen and they had a decent amount of sponsors from the local business community and the MMA community. Jorge Grugel did a decent job in post fight interviews though we didn't need them after every fight. Now if Genesis had been held in a different venue all these different factors could of created a really spectacular first show.

Enough with the talk of tickets and barns let's move on to the real reason fans were there last night, the fights.

The main event was a light heavyweight bout between Antwain Britt and Antonio Mendes. Shine hyped the fight by quoting a Sherdog article that said this fight was one of the top-ten fights to watch in the month of May. For the spectators if you weren't paying close attention you may of missed the fight since it was over in eight seconds. Antwain Britt bull rushed Antonio Mendes, as Mendes backed into the cage he was caught flush with a right hand and fell unconscious.

Mario Stapel had a dominating victory over Harris Sarmiento. Stapel easily one the stand up and as Harris tried to counter with a take down Stapel sunk in the guillotine choke and won the fight two minutes into round 1.

Byron Foster defeated Kyle Baker off of a great head kick which dropped Baker. Though Baker recovered quickly he was felled by an uppercut that dropped him cold.

There was some controversy that many casual fans missed. During the Marcus Reynolds Brad Harris fight, Harris had Reynolds back with under hooks in. For some reason the referee broke the fighters and had them stand. Easily the worst call by a referee in some time considering that Harris was in a dominant position. After the stand up Reynolds landed a left hook which rocked Harris at the end of the first round. Brad Harris was not the same fighter after that punch and would take several more shots in the second round before being defeated. 

[WKR incorrectly reported that Kyle Baker defeated Byron Foster]