Florida Turns Down Yohan Banks as Lashley's opponent

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the event that heavyweight Yohan Banks (2-1 MMA, 2-0 SF) was not approved by the Florida State Boxing Commission as an opponent for Bobby Lashley (4-0 MMA, 0-0 SF), and the former WWE star is still without an opponent for the event.

An FSBC representative said the decision to decline Banks as an opponent for Lashley was made based on a review of the fighters' records, at which point the commission "determined that the bout was not competitive."

Banks is coming off an 18 second knockout win for Strikeforce in 2008. The fact that it's been well over a year since he fought and the fact that Lashley has been moving up in competition made this feel like a mismatch all along but it is very rare to see a commission step up for a major promotion's event and say that a fight is so non-competitive that they won't allow it.

Strikeforce is now in the awkward position of having to find an opponent competitive enough for Florida to allow while also finding someone willing to take the fight on roughly two weeks notice. Personally, I wouldn't be shocked to see Strikeforce try to push Lashley's bout back to the CBS card and move the Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs bout up to the main card.


http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/1/14/1251917/florida-turns-down-yohan-banks-as

Justice is served. Give Bobby a real opponent Strikeforce.

Yohan is more Competitive than Bo Cantrell and Florida didnt have a problem with that

this smells funny
bet the card aint selling for shit

Give him Anthony Ruiz.

give him Big Foot

Birdofthad wrote:

give him Big Foot

Id love to watch that fight, but I doubt Lashley would do it.

agree Taylor it wont happen but thats what I would want to see

they're not gonna find a quality opponent for him on such short notice. I would have rather seen Lashley than no Lashley.

agreed oggy

They could at least give him someone halfway credible

it's only his 5th fight. And it's his SF debut. Yea, the guy the gave him was a joke but now you risk losing Lashley for that card and his face is already on the poster. I kinda think it was a pretty dumb move on the part of the Florida Athletic Commission.

I dont ever remember the commission doing this at all do u guys?

Never mind. Ruiz is fighting Hector Ramirez Feb 4th.



Give him Daniel Cormier or Mike Kyle. Jermey Frietag maybe? Get the dude a fight to fuel his hype tour.

who wants to bet they have called ken?

Birdofthad wrote:

who wants to bet they have called ken?

at least it would be a name

Birdofthad wrote:

who wants to bet they have called ken?

Ken iw set to fight Seth.

Since when do commissions do this? Can't they just man up and put Del Rosario back on?

Ninja\Rua/Fan wrote:

Birdofthad wrote:

who wants to bet they have called ken?

Ken set to fight Seth.

I know but I wouldnt be surprised if they still tried to get him

then again he may not be competetive enough for Florida

bobbitt15 wrote:

Since when do commissions do this? Can't they just man up and put Del Rosario back on?

I wish, building up a fighter is one thing but really Yohan Banks?

Bo Cantrell would have tapped at the stare down if he was allowed to vs Kimbo

Florida didnt have a problem then

Ninja\Rua/Fan wrote:

Justice is served. Give Bobby a real opponent Strikeforce.

They tried.

They offered him del Rosario and another young fighter with an equally impressive record and Lashley's management turned it down.

I don't understand the protection. I don't think Lashley needs it. I think he would beat Shane del Rosario. I think the goal was to make Lashley look as dominant as possible and del Rosario is not an easy matchup. We still might see it though.

This smells funny.

If Lashley wasn't a pro wrestling name the commission wouldn't have done this. He is 4-0 and a rookie himself, fighting a 2-1 fighter is acceptable and in fact ideal, the guy is just coming off an 18 second KO win in strikeforce himself.

Dana must be a golfing buddy of someone in Fla's commission. This is a joke. That fight was more than credible at this stage. Just because Lashley was a wrestler doesn't mean he has to fight top ten opponents all of a sudden.

It is not even like Lashley was a lock to win this. Banks is 2-1 with both wins in Strikeforce, and his only loss is to a 5-1 guy who has only lost to the UFC's Chase Gromley. Sounds to me like Banks is a prospect no different from many other young HW's.

I don't know his stats but he doesn't look like a very small HW and he looks in shape and strong enough to be fighting other HW's. There is no reason to cancel this fight for this reason. What a crock of shit.

This can only be viewed as corruption.

are the pics working for any of you?

Well, SF is promoting him on their new poster. Hopefully they find a suitable opponent.