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The Florida State Boxing Commission has officially rejected Yohan Banks as Bobby Lashley’s opponent for Strikeforce “Miami.” What’s crazier is why.

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.”

Okay, I’ll bite. Taking a quick look at Lashley’s and Banks’ records, Lashley has only had one more professional fight than Banks. Just one. Lashley is 4-0 with wins against Bob Sapp, Mike Cook, Jason Guida, and Joshua Franklin. Not exactly top tier competition. Meanwhile, Banks is 2-1 with wins over Joey Beltran and Michael Diaz and a loss to Joey Devine. If Banks’ record isn’t good enough for Lashley, then whose is? Did the FSBC confuse Lashley with Brock Lesnar or something? Seriously, I don’t get it.

Image via Esther Lin for Showtime

Update: WKR reminds everyone that Yohan Banks would have been coming off a 17-month layoff so perhaps that had something to do with it?

Update 2: Five Oz. is reporting that Jimmy Ambriz has been selected to fight Bobby Lashley pending FSBC approval. Ambriz is a 14-12-1 super heavyweight who has losses to Sergei Kharitonov, Jeff Monson and even TUF 10’s Scott Junk. He’s a very beatable opponent for Lashley, but at least has the experience to convince the FSBC to approve him…I would think.

Update 3: Scratch Jimmy Ambriz’s name off the list. Ariel Helwani doesn’t say why, but he says Ambriz is definitely not fighting Lashley.

Surprise, surprise, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation who oversees the Florida State Boxing commission has cleared EliteXC of any wrongdoing in the StandGate scandal. The news comes from Mike Chiappetta of NBCSports.com.

The latest episode of Inside MMA included the interview with Alexis Antonacci, the press secretary from the Florida DBPR, on StandGate. It turned out to be a big disappointment though. She pretty much just made the same “we think they’re innocent, but we’ll check it out” statement that she’s made to several other media outlets. However, in light of TJ Thompson’s comments, that better as hell change.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s investigation into the EliteXC alleged bribery scandal has commenced. What that investigation actually entails is now detailed in a report from MMA Weekly.