Rebney to Coker: Make the Fight or Silence Melendez

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney acknowledges that his correspondence via the media with Strikeforce head Scott Coker has gotten a little ridiculous.

Most recently, Coker denied receiving any text messages from Rebney inquiring about a co-promotional fight between Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez. Then Bellator released images of the texts Rebney had sent Coker. Then a Strikeforce representative explained that the texts had been sent to Coker’s old phone number.

“There is no reason for this to be something taking place in the media,” Rebney said Wednesday during an interview on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “If Scott had just called me back and said, ‘Hey, dude, I’d love to work with you, but the Gilbert fight against Eddie is not one that makes sense for us,’ I never would have brought it up with the media. It’s just that to pretend to be engaged publicly and then not be responsive to my attempts to reach him for going on 90 days, I don’t think it’s fair or reasonable.”

Rebney said he still hasn’t heard from Coker. Coker said Rebney’s using the media for attention. However, Rebney explained that he only pushed for an Alvarez-Melendez bout after Coker’s fighter, Melendez, called out Alvarez. Then, Rebney said, roughly two and a half months ago, Coker told him he was interested in the matchup.

“The only reason I followed up so aggressively with Scott both publicly and privately on his own private phone was that it seemed to us, based on his responses, he wanted to make the fight happen,” Rebney said. “I completely understand him not wanting to make the fight happen. Were the roles reversed, I probably wouldn’t want to make that fight happen either.”

Except the roles aren’t reversed, and Rebney believes the fight should happen. How would he convince Coker if they sat down together?

“That’s a fight we should make happen as mixed martial arts promoters. Take the CEO hat off and just be fans,” Rebney said. “That’s a fight that we should do.”

Although that might not be persuasive, Rebney offered other points. Namely, that Melendez called out Alvarez first and that Melendez is still pushing for the fight publicly.

“Have your champ stop talking about the fight, so that Eddie can not have to respond to it and I don’t have to respond to it, or just sit down with me and let’s work it out,” Rebney suggested.

As for Alvarez, Rebney said his lightweight champion has become disenchanted with the situation.

“He’s a fighter very much at the core,” Rebney said. “His perception of it is if Gilbert called [him] out and if Gilbert keeps talking about it, Gilbert should go to his promoter and say, ‘Do the fight. I want this fight to happen. I’m your champion and now I’m looking like a guy who is part of an organization that doesn’t want it to occur.’”

Rebney said if Coker declined the fight, he would respect that decision. Fans might have another reaction to Strikeforce turning down the matchup, but Rebney said regardless, he deserves a response.

“There’s no shame in saying, ‘I don’t want the fight. It doesn’t make sense for our organization. We don’t want it.’ But just let us know,” Rebney said. “Or just pick up the phone or sit down and have dinner with me. It’s a pretty simple process. We’ve gone out of our way to try to make it work. Doesn’t look like it’s going to work. Doesn’t look like Scott wants it, and I respect that if that’s the case, but just let us know you don’t want the fight.”

Of course, if Coker does want the fight, Rebney is still ready.

“I would have flown out and I would fly out, right now,” Rebney said. “I like Scott. He seems like a good guy. A lot of people in this industry like him. I’d fly out to San Francisco in two days and sit down and take him out to dinner and talk through it and put this fight into motion, but the phone’s gotta get picked up.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:19:00) with Rebney, who also gave an interesting overview of Bellator’s business model and how the promotion makes money.