Bellator CEO Rebney plans for more growth
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
When Bjorn Rebney founded Bellator MMA in 2008, the fledgling promotion faced an uphill climb. Rebney soon found a television home on ESPN Desportes, which aired events on tape delay, and the inaugural Bellator event took place in Hollywood, Fla., on April 3, 2009.
Today, Bellator has become the second most recognized brand of mixed martial arts in the U.S., trailing industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship. To reach its current plateau, Bellator was absorbed by Viacom and now airs more than two dozen live events each year on Spike TV.
Last week, Bellator hit a milestone with its 100th telecast.
“It seems like a blink of an eye ago that we did the first event in 2009,” said Rebney, Bellator CEO. “It literally seems like 20 minutes ago. I can remember the announcers. I can remember the arena. I can remember the fights. I remember Toby Imada with an inverted triangle on Jorge Masvidal (at Bellator 5) like it was 20 minutes ago.”
Rebney predicts the company will continue to grow.
“Given who are partners are right now with Viacom and with Spike and given what’s happening internationally with sponsorship support … to what level it will go remains to be seen,” he said. “But I’m extremely hopeful the right pieces of the puzzle are in place.”
Bellator’s roster is a big source of Rebney’s optimism. While the promotion fills in holes with established veterans no longer employed by the UFC, the company also continues to discover and develop new talent, some of whom — such as lightweight champion Michael Chandler Jr. — are regarded as among the best in the world.
“Of all the things I’m most excited about, it’s that Sam Caplan and Zach Light and our talent development team keep making these divisions deeper and deeper and deeper,” Rebney said. “More guys keep breaking into the top 10 and now the top two or three in the world. That’s the fuel to everything we do. With this kind of evolution in terms of fighters, I think the future looks very, very bright, and I think our potential is unlimited.”
UFC 165 FALLOUT
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones scored a narrow decision against Alexander Gustafsson in the main event of UFC 165 last weekend.
“I’ve been asking for a dog fight for a long time,” Jones said in the Octagon after the fight. “I finally got that dog fight I’ve been looking for. (Saturday night) was a blessing in so many ways. I got the victory, and I got to prove a lot to myself. I’m not satisfied. I’ve got to do a lot more work in the gym to stay on top of my game.”
“You want to know what a good fight that was?” asked UFC president Dana White in the post-fight news conference. “Neither the champ nor the challenger will be here. Jones is already at the hospital, and they’re taking Gustafsson right now. That’s how good that fight was. I don’t ever think we’ve had that happen. We’ve had one or the other go. (Now,) they are both going.”
Talk of a rematch began immediately after the fight. White did not say who — top contender Glover Teixeira or Gustafsson — will get the next shot at Jones.
“I didn’t say we’re going to do the rematch, I said I’d like to do the rematch because it makes sense,” White said. “I’d like it. But first of all, in a fight like this, you’ve got to let things play out. Jon Jones doesn’t even want to hear the word fight for the next two or three weeks, I guarantee that. So we wait.”
