Bellator Implements Championship Bout Rematch Clause To Contracts | MMA NEWS

By BJPENN.COM News - November 26, 2012


In a creative twist to the standard fight contract, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced today that his fight promotion will start implementing a championship rematch clause in their bout agreements.

What this means is that at their discretion they can grant an automatic rematch to any champion dethroned by his title challenger.

Here’s the letter Bjorn released just a few short hours ago:

MMA Fans,

Like many of you, I’ve been a die-hard MMA fan for many years. So many in fact that I can remember watching MMA in my 20’s and now I’m in my 40’s, which scares me much more than rolling with my friends Tiki Goshen, Zach Light, Marcelo Brigadeiro or Jimmy Smith. All of whom can put me to sleep at their leisure.

I created Bellator based on a simple idea; that there should be a place where fighters control their own destiny and where title shots are earned, not given. Since the first time I watched MMA, which I believe is the world’s greatest sport, the part I thought it was missing was the objective sports competition element. From the start, I’ve worked to build an organization where the world’s best could simply win and guarantee themselves a shot at the title, just like every other sport on earth.

I ask the same question every time I talk with my team and our partners at Spike: “As a team, how can we make Bellator better, more exciting and entertaining?” And, the best way to answer that question is to listen to you. So, at every event we do, and at restaurants, airports, through social media, at gyms, etc. – I listen to what you think and what you want to see. Your input legitimately influences what we do. I never forget that if it were not for you, MMA fans, and our incredibly talented fighters, Bellator would have been nothing more than an idea in my head.

I am proud to announce that driven by your input; we will implement a championship fight rematch clause as we move into 2013 and our launch on Spike in January. When a fighter’s earned a shot at the world title by winning The Toughest Tournament in Sports and competes in a title fight that knocks fans like us back in our seats (win or lose) delivering an incredible fight, when a rematch is called for, we will deliver it. Championship fights give us some of the greatest moments in MMA. And, re-matches of incredible championship fights will give fans like us more of those electrifying moments, while staying true to the world’s best fighters having had to earn their way to those title shots.

Our focus is to constantly improve our televised and live events for you each and every week. A large part of making things better is listening to the people who make this all possible and adapting what we do to give you the very best we can. We’re committed to doing this as we move to our new home on Spike and the next step in our evolution.

We’ve got amazing tournaments, world title fights, specials and reality series coming your way in 2013!

Once again, thank you for your support

Bjorn


Topics:

Bellator