Sigma Chi’s eighth Fight Night is being rescheduled because the group was reported for not having a sanction from the state to hold amateur fighting.

Members of Sigma Chi believe the event was reported to the state by representatives of the WWE and the MMA.

Maxwell Noonan, Sigma Chi’s Derby Daddy, said the event is being rescheduled to provide enough time to file for the sanction through the state.

The state of Kentucky requires a sanction to be filed before anyone can put on an amateur boxing bout.

Officer Jerry Loughran, the Police Activities League Boxing Coach in Lexington, is familiar with how a group gets a sanction.

Loughran said a group has to go through USA Boxing to become a registered club, have certified coaches and registered athletes before a sanction can be filed.

“USA Boxing is the governing body for all amateur boxing in the United States, just like NCAA is like for college basketball,” Loughran said.

Loughran said Sigma Chi would be able to register as a club through USA Boxing, even though they are a Greek organization.

“People even register clubs out of their basements,” he said. “As long as you have a bag hanging up and some type of facilities, you can register.”

Once Sigma Chi is fully registered, it would be able to have the Kentucky Amateur Boxing Association file a sanction. Loughran said he didn’t think Sigma Chi knew it needed to register.

“I think that’s what happened, they’ve been having this every year and they didn’t realize that they were out of bounds,” he said.

The sanction was overlooked in the past because safety precautions like ambulances and insurance had been put in place, and because the money goes to Huntsman Cancer Institute for research, Noonan said.

“The sanction that we should have to get every year gets overlooked due to the fact that we’re a non-profit, that we’re a Greek organization and the money we raise is strictly for the group,” he said.

Noonan said there was a conflict between Fight Night and the WWE and the MMA.

“Since our event happened to take place on the Thursday and Friday of a weekend that two other events were partaking in town, these events teamed up and what they basically did was open up the book and threw it on the table,” he said.

Noonan said officials in Frankfort told him “the people who turned you in are in your own backyard.”

“They repeated that over and over,” he said.

Noonan said the groups didn’t contact Sigma Chi but reported Fight Night to the state, which then told the fraternity that it was breaking a law by not being sanctioned.

“(The WWE and MMA) avoided us at all costs,” Noonan said.

A spokesman with the WWE said the WWE would not be involved in an MMA event in any way.

Noonan said Sigma Chi stuck to the plans that it has always had for the past Fight Nights but said it plans on getting a sanction.

“This would be an nonissue if we had known about this sooner,” he said.

Noonan said support for Fight Night is still high, and workers for the event and fans are ready for Fight Night to happen this year.