Recently George St. Pierre, Tim Kennedy, Donald Cerrone, TJ Dillashaw, and Cain Velasequez announced their association with the debuting “MMA Athletes Association” (MMAAA). Former Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney was also announced as an advisor to the group.
It should be noted that this is not a union. A union would involve fighters having to pay dues to an organization in order for them to act on their behalf. What an “athletes association” does is work with the media to lobby on behalf of the rights of fighters. In short, they have no actual power to do anything directly.
The real purpose of the organization, you see, has nothing to do with the well-being of the fighters. This is one company and multiple individuals all working together to screw Dana White and the UFC. Here are five reasons why they may do just that.
5. Bjorn Rebney’s Motives
Many people are questioning Bjorn Rebney’s motives for joining this new association. Many former fighters have spoken out against his involvement.
When asked about Rebney’s involvement with the MMAAA, Randy Couture responded:
“I think everybody has a question about what Bjorn’s motives are and what exactly is going on there and I think that’ll come out in time. His reputation as a promoter precedes him a little bit and so it’s interesting now that all the 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.”
Rebney parted ways with Bellator in 2014. Some are speculating that this is merely a way for him to take a shot at his former competition, the UFC. Dana White and Bjorn are not exactly friends. White has gone on record calling Bjorn a “scumbag”, and the two have taken shots at each other on Twitter in the past (as all respectable CEOs do). Things got litigious between the two companies over Eddie Alvarez’s contract at one point as well.
Saying that Rebney does not like Dana White is an understatement. It is entirely possible that 100% of Rebney’s motivation here is to screw over Dana anyway he can.
