... after word got out that some unclaimed baggage was still on the carousel following the May 15 "Worlds Collide" fiasco.

"I was given verbal approval for our Sept 10 event by the Virginia state commission 32 days prior to the fight date. The commission did not express any problems with our event until certain members of the MMA community accused Shine of having reneged on our responsibilities following the cancellation of our May 15, 2010 "Worlds Collide: Ricardo Mayorga-Din Thomas" fight card in Fayetteville, NC. The Virginia commission was understandably concerned, but instead of allowing us to prove the concerns were unfounded, they refused to provide a license. And we could have proved this since on Friday [Sept 3] the North Carolina commission ruled that Shine HAD met all its obligations from the May 15, 2010 event. It is unfortunate things had to end this way; however, I know we will still have a great show on Sept 10 and we are happy to be working with the First Council Casino."

Shine Fights CEO Devin Price fires back at the Virginia Athletic Commission after getting denied a license to hold the promotion's lightweight grand prix on Sept. 10 at the George Mason University campus in Fairfax. Price claims the sanctioning  body was completely on board with their upcoming pay-per-view until they got wind of some recent claims that fighters who were stiffed by the cancellation of the "Worlds Collide" event earlier this year have yet to be paid. The show must go on and Shine will instead bring their card to the First Council Casino in Oklahoma. Is the damage already done? Or will fans still shell out 30 clams for the lightweight tournament on Friday night?

Don’t work too hard. Enjoy the time off. And thanks for sticking around this weekend — we've got a busy month ahead of us with The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 12 and UFC 119 right around the corner. So after you drink like a slob and return from wherever you go today be sure to come back here and check us out.

Props: ESPN.co.uk

Quoteworthy:

"I haven't got anything against him, he's a great fighter and he seems like a cool guy. But I wanted to fight him because he breaks down real nice for my game, and he's got status in the division. He was the No. 1 contender so it's a big fight for me. We'll see if I'm foolish on October 16. He's definitely the most dangerous opponent I've fought so far, and he's the toughest too. He's definitely one of the top guys I've faced for sure."

Former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit prepares for his toughest challenge to date as he gets ready to lock horns with former division number one contender Dan Hardy at the upcoming UFC 120 event scheduled for Oct. 16 at the O2 Arena in London, England. "The Outlaw" called Condit "foolish" for requesting this fight and plans on punishing him for it when "The Natural Born Killer" tests his jits across the pond. Anyone think the Brit is going to be in for a surprise? Or is Condit biting off more than he can chew?

The "Real Deal" is a -280 favorite for Sept. 15. Will he perform accordingly against "Magrinho?"

The Fighting and Entertainment Group has revealed the fight card for the upcoming DREAM 16, which is slated to take place on September 25 at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan, during the last few days.

Fresh off his first-round submission victory in his first title defense against Tatsuya Kawajiri, DREAM lightweight champion, Shinya Aoki, takes on the UFC and PRIDE veteran, Marcus Aurelio, in a non-title affair. Former top flight lightweight, Joachim Hansen, looks to put his three-fight skid to a halt and earn his first victory as a featherweight against the perennial fan favorite, Hideo Tokoro.

DREAM 16 marks the promotional debut of the two-time lightweight (143 lbs) champion and the long-time mainstay of Shooto, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue. "Lion" has promised to "alter the Featherweight's divisional landscape" with a victory over the former Olympic freestyle wrestler, Kazuyuki Miyata.

Elsewhere, the clash of two premier entertainers in MMA pits the Japanese MMA demigod, Kazushi Sakuraba, against Jason "Mayhem" Miller. Also, the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, Gegard Mousasi, looks to become the first two-division champ in DREAM when he takes on Tatsuya Mizuno in the finale of the promotion's light heavyweight finale.

At the time of this writing, the line-up stands as follows:

Middleweight: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Jason "Mayhem" Miller

Lightweight: Shinya Aoki vs. Marcus Aurelio

Featherweight: Hideo Tokoro vs. Joachim Hansen

Featherweight: "Lion" Takeshi Inoue vs. Kazuyuki Miyata

Light heavyweight (2010 DREAM Light heavyweight GP finale): Gegard Mousasi vs. Tatsuya Mizuno

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more information on this still-developing fight card.

... and he's appealing to UFC President Dana White via Twitter to make it happen:

"Dana, let me fight James Toney on a 6 round boxing match. I think I can catch him with my speed. Dana, this will be the first boxing match in UFC and I promise he will feel my power and we will show the world that a UFC fighter can do better"

Belfort owns fast and heavy hands, but are they enough to fight a boxer like James Toney? White stated after UFC 118 that there won't be another MMA vs boxing competiton inside the Octagon after Toney was embarrassed by Randy Couture, losing via submission just seconds into their heavyweight bout. White scored a Pyrrhic victory of sorts over the Sweet Science, which makes it even more unlikely that he'd risk messing that up by letting his fighers box pro boxers inside the square circle. But, if this bout ever did happen, do you think Belfort has enough skills to beat Toney up?