Last week a new fighters’ association – the Mixed Martial Arts Athlete Association (MMAAA) – bannered by a number of prominent current and former fighters that included Georges St-Pierre, came out and promised to be a game changer for the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). Recently, UFC President Dana White commented on another prominent character associated with the group, former Bellator CEO Bjork Rebney, calling him “the biggest scumbag in the history of combat sports.”
“Listen, I don’t know enough about it [MMAAA] to really speak on it. The only thing I need to know is the biggest scumbag in the history of combat sports—Bjork—is involved in this thing,” Dana White said on the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “And if you’re a fighter, listen, there’s three unions out there now all battling against each other. And if you’re a fighter, these guys are all looking to get in your pocket. It’s another business where guys are looking to make money. And if you’re a fighter and this is what you want to do, you’ve got to figure out whose hand you want in your pocket. And I guarantee you, you don’t want Bjork’s hand in your pocket.”
Former UFC champion Randy Couture, who has had his own run-ins with the UFC, echoed Dana White’s sentiment. “His reputation as a promoter precedes him a little bit, and it’s interesting now that all [of a] sudden he’s for fighter rights and all these things that obviously as the CEO of a major fight organization he didn’t demonstrate that same feeling,” Couture said, as reported by Bloody Elbow’s Amy Dash. The two were not alone in expressing distrust for Bjork Rebney, with MMA agent Malki Kawa tweeting that he won’t have anything to do with a fighter’s association that has Rebney in it.
Lol if Bjorn rebney is in, I'm out. He was the most anti-fighter promoter I ever met. Contract worse than ... https://t.co/LnfCPdjqQN
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) November 29, 2016
The press conference held by MMAAA last week gave rise to more questions than answers. And with the recent billion dollar sale of the UFC, this looks to be an issue that will persist in the foreseeable future. Bjork Rebney, for his part, took to Twitter to respond to Dana White’s comments.
.@danawhite You pay fighters 8 cents on the $. No pension, No benefits, No safety net & your Co.’s worth $4 Billion! U should be ashamed. — Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) December 6, 2016
Source:
.@danawhite You pay fighters 8 cents on the $. No pension, No benefits, No safety net & your Co.’s worth $4 Billion! U should be ashamed.
— Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) December 6, 2016 ">Bleacher Report
