Bjorn Rebney blasts new UFC owners

Former Bellator MMA CEO Bjorn Rebney recently found himself making headlines recently when he joined former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, former UFC champions TJ Dillashaw & Cain Velasquez, and top ranked fighters Donald Cerrone & Tim Kennedy in announcing the formation of the MMA Athletes Association.

While the association mostly received praise form fighters, many questioned the former Bellator MMA CEO’s motives, with UFC President Dana White stating:

“The biggest scumbag in the history of combat sports, Bjork, is involved in this thing,” he said. “Listen, there are three unions out there right now battling against each other. And, if you’re a fighter, all these guys are looking to get in your pocket — it’s a business where guys are going to make money. As a fighter, if this is what you want to do, you need to figure our whose hand you want in your pocket. And I guarantee you don’t want Bjork’s hand in your pocket.”

Rebney fired back in an interview of his own on The MMA Hour, firing shots at the new WME-IMG owners of the UFC, saying:

“I hate racists and I hate bullies more than anything on Earth,” Rebney said during a recent edition of “The MMA Hour” via MMA Fighting. “They’re bottom feeders. And WME-IMG and UFC today — that conglomerate — they’re bullies. And it may not be with their hands, but it’s with their money and it’s with their power and it’s with their influence.”

Rebney pointed to the recent $4 billion sale of the UFC as to his motives behind backing the MMAAA, saying the valuation came on the backs of fighters, not the Dana White or the Fertitta brothers.

“That didn’t come from Dana or Lorenzo,” Rebney said. “That came on the backs of fighters who packed the arenas, drove the pay-per-view buy rates, drove the international and domestic television, the sponsorships, the closed circuit, etc., etc. They deserve to get paid what’s fair. And to be able to fight that fight, to be able to be in the middle of that and also to be able to Superman punch bullies in the back of the head, that’s a very attractive proposition for me just given my personality.”