Decent interview for a promoter, updates on all things Bellator; Reality show, Mo losing, Rampage and Barnett, Women's Tourney, Spike Ratings, Dana White hating, signing vets vs signing prospects, Chandler and Curran being the faces of BFC, etc.,.
When Dana White is your Peer, it's hard not to look like your doing things right.
There was a quick break in the Bellator schedule last week, the first
during their premiere season on Spike. There was no rest for company CEO
Bjorn Rebney, who flew to Louisiana to check in on the tapings of the
soon-to-be-launched Bellator reality show. In between criss-crossing the
country, scouting the world for talent and preparing for the next wave
of weekly shows, which begins Thursday with Bellator 93 in Lewiston,
Maine, Rebney spoke to MMA Fighting about a whole host of topics,
including the move to Spike, King Mo’s loss, pursuing
Josh Barnett, Dana White’s trash talk and more.
Chiappetta:
The season started off with two exciting title fights and the ratings
were strong with an average of 938,000 viewers and a peak of 1.2
million. Would you classify that night as a home run?Rebney:
It’s not really my nature to classify stuff as a home run. I don’t know.
I think it was a solid start. I’m hesitant. My goals and what I’m
looking for is far off in the distance. I’m always kind of hesitant to
say it was a home run. It was a solid event, good fights, sold-out
arena, good numbers. But it was just a start on Spike. I thought it was a
good start but still an awful lot of work to be done. There were
problems with the show, issues with the format, things that I could see
that needed improvement.
Chiappetta: I’m sure you’re more
critical than most about that. How has the season progressed as you’ve
continued the transition to Spike?Rebney: I think the most
important thing is that the fights have been remarkably good. You can
create amazing feature pieces and perfect the show from a production
standpoint, you can tweak and change things and promote it. But If the
fights aren’t spectacular? The fights and fighters are the fuel for the
entire machine. If there’s one thing I’m most happy, there’s been
amazing fights and performances. The tournament format has rung true,
with competition being the driving force of Bellator, not how well you
speak and talking your way into the things. It’s all about the
competition, and the competition’s been amazing. That’s the driving
force of what’s been great. The rest of the elements that flow from
that, that’s just a ton of work that we work on week in and week out.
Chiappetta: A couple of weeks ago, you unveiled an app that complements the viewing experience. How has the reception been?Rebney:
Jon Slusser and his team at Spike worked so hard and long to create an
app that wasn’t just the best in MMA, but competitive with the best apps
in all of sports. They did an amazing job. It was never about being the
best in MMA, but competing with the best on the face of the earth in
the sports arena. That’s the kind of stuff that working with the team
with Viacom and Spike, we’re able to do. I’m very happy with the way it
works and functions, and I’m most happy with the way consumers and fans
have responded to it. A lot of people are utilizing it to be our fourth
judge, to learn about our fighters, to vote, to chime in, and to get
much more substantive information about what’s going on in our fights.
Chiappetta: Ultimately, what grade would you give yourself for the first half of the season on Spike?Rebney:
Boy, that’s a tough one. I’m always my harshest critic and our harshest
critic. I always temper that with trying to motivate the people who
work with me. They work incredibly hard. Our ops team, production, PR.
I’m probably the worst guy to give a grade. It would be lower than you
probably anticipate based on how driven I am to make it better. I don't
know. I’d leave the grading to others. I’d say the fights have been
amazing. When a show gets over, I review the DVD minute by minute,
second by second. I have 7-8 other senior executives who do the same
thing. We exchange notes and have several meetings and review all facets
of the event. I think production’s getting tighter. We’ve made
intentional changes to get to fights quicker. It seems to have generated
positive fan response. We’re evolving and growing. There are still a
lot of things that we can still change and make better.
Chiappetta: Is Michael Chandler becoming the face of Bellator?Rebney: I think what Michael Chandler has accomplished is representative of all that Bellator is. I think that what
Pat Curran has accomplished is representative of all that Bellator is, too. I
think that unknown fighters that 2-3 years ago, guys with no recognition
in the space, if they have the talent and ability to be the very best
in the world, can utilize the format and structure and partnership with
Spike to become recognized as not only the best in the world, but expand
their brand and become well-known faces.
What Michael has done
with Bellator and working in partnership with us, going from a guy
nobody knew two years ago to a guy widely recognized as one of the
greatest lightweights in the world and becoming a crossover personality,
I think those are the kind of growth opportunities that exist for for
fighters here. We’re built on promoting and marketing fighters not
because I’m Mother Teresa, but because if you track the growth of every
other sports organizations, they’re built on the backs of huge
personalities and big athletes. Guys like Chandler and Curran are able
to take opportunities and develop them and become prolific names. I
think he’s surely one of them. I’ve said many times, I would take
Michael Chandler vs. any lightweight on earth.
Chiappetta: One of your other well-known fighters "King Mo" Lawal won his first-round match but was upset by Emanuel Newton in the 2nd round. What are your plans with him going forward?Rebney:
We rebuild him in a huge way. We put him back in, get him busy as
quickly as humanly possible and we rebuild him. The magic of MMA is that
anything can happen on any given day. I’m sitting in my hotel room late
at night after Mo’s fight and I’m watching SportsCenter, and the No. 6
moment of the day was the highlight of Emanuel Newton, this guy many
people had never heard of, executing a spinning backfist that hit Mo
right on the button. That moment is what we are all about. We’re not
going to take King Mo or Chandler or Curran or anybody else and feed
them cans to get them to the promised land. You have to win the toughest
tourney in sports to get to earn your shot at a title. If you get
through, you’ve absolutely earned it.
The reality is, when this
tournament was set up, people were talking about King Mo meeting Babalu
in the finals. Those are the moments that speak to how good Bellator is.
We’re going to build Mo back. I talk to him constantly. We’re planning
the strategy. He’ll have to go through same gauntlet to get there. If he
gets through, he’ll earn that shot at the title, but he’s not going to
leapfrog over anyone. He’s not going to get in by any way other than
earning it, and that’s what makes us different from the competition.
Chiappetta: So will the next light-heavyweight tournament with him be in the Summer Series?Rebney: We’re working through it as we speak. We may be able to make it happen in the summer, but worst case is the fall.
Chiappetta: Bellator’s reality show, FightMaster MMA is taping. What can you tell us about what you’ve seen so far?Rebney:
It’s a totally different dynamic. The fights have been spectacularly
competitive, at a very, very high level and competitive. The
storytelling I’ve seen, the in-depth dive into who they are is vintage
Bertram Van Munster. One of the reality shows I watch is the Amazing
Race because it’s a cool competition and you get invested into the
people. That’s what I’m seeing that they captured with our fighters in
New Orleans. It’s a
very different type of show than the show I’ve
been executive producing for five years. What I’ve seen has the makings
of something really special. The personalities are there, the fighters
are there, and there’s been some really great fights.
Chiappetta: Is there an air date for the premiere yet? Rebney: It’s still being decided by Spike. The vision is to do it in summer but the day and date hasn’t been finalized.
Chiappetta: Your No. 1 featherweight contender Daniel Straus has had a rough stretch with an injury that knocked him out of the title fight, and then an arrest on drugs and traffic charges. Have you had a chance to speak with him.Rebney:
I’ve spoken with Daniel twice. I spoke to him the moment he got out and
made bail. I know it’s a unique position in this industry to take, but
I’ve known Daniel a lot of years. He’s been awesome for the
organization. He stepped up and stood up every time we asked. He’s been a
total pro and also a very good guy, very responsive and adult. One of
the better guys to work with. He worked awfully hard to get the shot at
the title. I spoke to him right after he made bail. His words to me
were, ‘I was absolutely in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should
not have been with the people I was with. I believe very firmly that
I’ll be exonerated and be able to move forward with career.’
I’ve
got his back. My hope against hope is he does get exonerated and he can
resume his career. He was training at American Top Team with some great
fighters, broke his hand, and this unfortunate situation came up. I’m
sure more of the facts will come clear in next month or so, but I have a
lot of belief and trust in Daniel Straus. My hope is it gets cleared
up, and he’s able to resume a successful career. If unfortunately he’s
not and it doesn't go in that direction, we’ll be there to support him
when he gets out.
Chiappetta: Have you had any talks with "Rampage Jackson yet?Rebney:
We bounce. There are always open lines of communication with us and a
whole series of fighters. There’s no pending agreement of any kind.
There’s no substantive direction. Our circles are too small. The reality
is you’re always going to bump into the Rampages and Josh Barnetts.
You’re going to bump into a lot of people here in Southern California.
Chiappetta: You didn’t make a run at Jon Fitch,
and I know you have already talked about that a bit, but I wanted to
ask if his style, which let’s be honest, is not considered fan-friendly,
was part of the consideration?Rebney: We haven't really made
substantive moves on guys that have been part of the recent UFC cuts.
It’s just not our focus. There’s a lot of guys who have potential to be
vintage Bellator guys, follow in the
Eduardo Dantas,
Pat Curran, type of road. That’s where our focus is. We have a lot of
fighters under contract. We don't want to have a situation like UFC,
where you have to cut 150 guys or whatever they’re cutting. My focus and
the team’s focus is let’s continue to find the guys we can build into
stars under this banner. We do a rankings system of 1-10 across the
divisions of guys we’re looking at recruiting from across the globe.
We’re focused on those guys. It wasn’t so much about not wanting Fitch
as it was that there was a series of guys we believe we can build up to
be top guys in those weight classes, and that’s where our focus is going
to remain.
Chiappetta: So that list is always going to consider or value prospects ahead of veterans?Rebney:
I think there’s always the caveat of there will be some guys where you
say, ‘Wow, he may have been cut too early.’ Or guys like Josh Barnett,
where you have to respect he’s still a top 10 heavyweight. Other than
that, it’s mostly about guys we have found across the globe, whether in
the UK or Russia or the Middle East or Brazil, etc. These are guys who
can conceptually win a tournament and maybe even challenge for a world
title. They’ll be our guys and our stars. They’re not coming off 2-3
losses in another organization. That’s kind of where our focus has
always been.
Chiappetta: That’s twice you’ve mentioned Josh
Barnett without me mentioning him. We both know heavyweight is the
toughest division to fill out. Is he on the wish list?Rebney: I
don't know if I would classify Josh as being on the wish list but he’s
sure on the radar. I’ve known him now for years. Like I said, the
Southern Cali market is not huge, but it’s a mecca for MMA. He’s a
talented fighter. He’s not one of those names that wore out his stay.
He’s still got gas in the tank but I have no way of knowing if we can
end up putting together a deal or not. I just know that anytime there’s a
heavyweight that’s a legit top 10, you take a look.
Chiappetta: You mentioned the UFC cuts. Spike’s Kevin Kay is on record with The New York Times saying "we don’t want to be picking up rejects from the UFC." Is there any wiggle room in looking at those fighters?Rebney: Oh, sure. You’ve seen it, there’s not a hard and fast rule. We signed Mo out of
Strikeforce.
We signed Ben Saunders. We’ve signed guys before. Every once in a while
you’ll see a guy bounce in. But our format is one to look from within.
That’s the mainstay of what we do. But there will be guys who come
around. We’ll see a guy who may have lost but has wicked talent. We’ll
make a signing like that. It’s not the focus of what we do. There’s
other organizations that come and go and their focal point was signing
guys that used to be with another organization. That’s a model that has
proven itself repeatedly to be very unsuccessful.
Chiappetta:
In the New York Times feature that I just mentioned, Dana White was
quoted as saying the idea of Bellator competing with the UFC is like
saying the local high school football team is going up against the NFL.
What’s your reaction to that?Rebney: "I don't mean to sound
Pollyanna about it but I don't pay a lot of attention to the comments. I
spend 19 hours a day signing great fighters, putting on better shows,
producing a great TV product and creating a great live experience. We’re
working on three straight sellouts. We’re putting a lot of butts in
seats, a lot of people are coming out to fights. That’s where my focus
remains. Comments from anyone are like water off a duck’s back. We’ll
keep focusing on putting on a spectacular product and great shows, and
let the results speak for themselves.
Chiappetta: UFC content
will be moving again, with the formation of the new FOX Sports 1, so
their fans are going to be re-routed again. Is your newfound stability
an advantage?Rebney: It’s a tough one to follow. I live in the
industry day in and out. I don't clearly understand the difference
between FSN and Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, and what’s happening with
Speed and FUEL, and who changes to what. It’s confusing and was hard to
figure out when it was just FX, FUEL and FOX. I don’t really understand
it. It’s been difficult to track up to this point and I don’t know that
it’s going to get any easier. There’s a lot of options for consumers.
We’re going to be on one place at the same time on the same channel for
more than half the year. We’re going to be on Thursday nights on Spike,
the home of MMA.
Chiappetta: What is going on with your women’s division?Rebney: We have
Jessica Aguilar fighting in Florida, then
Jessica Eye in Atlantic City. We’ve got fights lined up. We’re keeping our ladies
busy, and trying to get our arms wrapped around if and when we can get a
tournament together at 125. We don’t have a specific plan just yet.
Chiappetta: Is there any movement on a possible settlement with Eddie Alvarez?Rebney:
Not really. We try to keep the door open to have communication and we
have had some talks. My hope remains that we’ll be able to get it
settled. We have had talks. It’s tough to tell. I’m hopeful it gets
settled but we’re in the process of talking and I just don't know that
it will. Our attorneys have been instructed to try to work through it
and get a settlement worked out so we can get it behind us.
Chiappetta: Is it your understanding that he is more open to a settlement now? Rebney: The tone of the talks have been more positive than they were
in the past. My hope is that we can keep them going in a positive
direction and maybe get this thing worked out. It’s hard to gauge
because obviously, we have two different positions. But I think the tone
has been positive. We’ll see. My fingers are crossed.
Chiappetta: If it does happen, will he come in and get a rematch with Michael Chandler? Rebney: That is a very viable and very realistic option. We’d have to
see how everything works out in terms of a settlement but that’s
obviously a fight we’d love to see. I know it’s a fight that a lot of
fans would love to see. It’s surely a very realistic, substantive
option.
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