Any news on Bjorn Rebney? (Bellator founder)

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Got any news on Bjorn Rebney?

Does he have plans to go back in mma business again?
 
I would love to see Bjorn Rebney replace Dana White as the President of the UFC,

And take on his former organization Bellator and it's new President Scott Coker.

Such drama it would be.
 
I'm still waiting for Art Davie to make his comeback.
 
I don’t know but I hope he catches on as a promoter elsewhere. I think he had a good vision and he was the first in North America to notice the deep talent reserves in the Caucasus.

It’s a shame that Bellator purged their Dagestani community when the Coker regime came in. I don’t believe there is a single one left when they were loaded with them in the Bjorn era.

Bellator was a true alternative product with Bjorn. There were some flaws with the tournament model only because he was so rigid in all title fights going through the tournaments. The same fighters kept entering and winning them. He should’ve kept the tournaments as an incentive for younger prospects to make big money early and quickly establish themselves and eventually built up to what Coker has now
 
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I don’t know but I hope he catches on as a promoter elsewhere. I think he had a good vision and he was the first in North America to notice the deep talent reserves in the Caucasus.

It’s a shame that Bellator purged their Dagestani community when the Coker regime came in. I don’t believe there is a single one left when they were loaded with them in the Bjorn era.

I'm pretty sure it's Bjorn who started to get rid of them initially.
 
I'm pretty sure it's Bjorn who started to get rid of them initially.

I can’t think of any that were cut under Bjorn.

Frodo had visa problems that never got resolved and then Coker just released him when he came in. There were guys still being signed near the end of Bjorns tenure like Ruslan Magomedov that were shelved and ultimately let go without getting a fight when Coker came in.

There was something in a legal dispute with Bellator and Zack Light that mentioned that Coker had pretty severe beef with an important connection in the Dagestan fighter exchange. He called the guy a terrorist and doesn’t want to do business with him. Not sure who it is. Plenty of ethnic Russian fighters since but nobody from that region.
 
Frodo had visa problems that never got resolved and then Coker just released him when he came in.

The issues with Visa started in Bjorn era and Frodo's management actually blamed Bellator for it.
Also, BTW - Bjorn did not let Frodo fight outside of Bellator. He let a lot of other fighters fight outside of Bellator, even GP winners like Frodo - but not this time.

The whole release came as a relief to Frodo and his management. Finally they could resume his fighting career.

He called the guy a terrorist and doesn’t want to do business with him. Not sure who it is.

Hoho. I cannot imagine Coker, who is afraid to put the word out of his mouth anyway, to talk to anyone like that.
Any source for this, by any chance? BTW, as far as I remember, Light lost the legal dispute, right?

The only thing I can think of is, actually, Ruslan Magomedov mentioned by you.
He's one of Kadyrov's trained "army", right?
Maybe Coker simply doesn't want to do any business with the Chechen tyrant, the oppressor of minorities with blood on his hands?
 
The issues with Visa started in Bjorn era and Frodo's management actually blamed Bellator for it.
Also, BTW - Bjorn did not let Frodo fight outside of Bellator. He let a lot of other fighters fight outside of Bellator, even GP winners like Frodo - but not this time.

The whole release came as a relief to Frodo and his management. Finally they could resume his fighting career.



Hoho. I cannot imagine Coker, who is afraid to put the word out of his mouth anyway, to talk to anyone like that.
Any source for this, by any chance? BTW, as far as I remember, Light lost the legal dispute, right?

The only thing I can think of is, actually, Ruslan Magomedov mentioned by you.
He's one of Kadyrov's trained "army", right?
Maybe Coker simply doesn't want to do any business with the Chechen tyrant, the oppressor of minorities with blood on his hands?

Yes, I just looked it up again but the “fucking terrorist” allegation was in regards to manager Anthony McGann of Wolfslair. So I didn’t remember that correctly. I don’t believe McGann has anything to do with fighters from the Russian Federation.

Still no fighters from Dagestan in Coker’s Bellator though. That’s just pretty glaring in this era and considering Bellators past unless they’re all from the same managerial pipeline that won’t work with Bellator...or Bellator doesn’t want any of them.

Frodo still hasn’t fought in the United States despite signing a deal with WSOF after his release so there is a good chance his visa problems weren’t a Bellator creation.

Frodo was a tournament winner and number 1 contender. Bjorn had just dealt with the Eduardo Dantas-Tyson Nam crap. I’m pretty sure he wanted Frodo back in the fold but didn’t want him taking an L on some Russian show.

As for Ruslan. Maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s how he views a lot of fighters from the region seeing as none of them are in Bellator anymore.
 
Yes, I just looked it up again but the “fucking terrorist” allegation was in regards to manager Anthony McGann of Wolfslair. So I didn’t remember that correctly. I don’t believe McGann has anything to do with fighters from the Russian Federation.

Still no fighters from Dagestan in Coker’s Bellator though. That’s just pretty glaring in this era and considering Bellators past unless they’re all from the same managerial pipeline that won’t work with Bellator...or Bellator doesn’t want any of them.

Frodo still hasn’t fought in the United States despite signing a deal with WSOF after his release so there is a good chance his visa problems weren’t a Bellator creation.

Frodo was a tournament winner and number 1 contender. Bjorn had just dealt with the Eduardo Dantas-Tyson Nam crap. I’m pretty sure he wanted Frodo back in the fold but didn’t want him taking an L on some Russian show.

As for Ruslan. Maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s how he views a lot of fighters from the region seeing as none of them are in Bellator anymore.

In addition: Bellator might simply not be a target for Caucasus region fighters anymore.
During the Rebney era, around 60% fighters exported from Soviet Regions landed in Bellator, not UFC. In UFC - only cream of the crop, like Khabib and Khabilov.
Now UFC gate is wide open, and there is pretty much no sorting whatsoever: UFC from "only the best" turned out to be "as many as possible".
ACB works straight with the UFC, so does M-1. Finkelshtein even said once: We pest our fighters not to throw them in a garbage can like Bellator. He thinks M-1>Bellator, seriously.

As of Frodo and visa - look, it might be that Bellator, if they really did fucked there up something, damaged his future as well.
It's a problem with American visa overall - oh yes I know it first hand! - and especially for Muslims.
 
They were partners. Ever heard about possibility that one partner steals from another?
Bjorn created Bellator and funded it through investments. His ratings were better than Coker's at a fraction of the cost. If Bjorn "stole" money, then Coker is Lee Murray.
 
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