UFC president Dana White is rarely shy about voicing his opinion, and he was no different when discussing last week's announcement of the Mixed Martial Arts Athlete Association.
Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast (via MMA Fighting), White zeroed in on Bjorn Rebney, the former chairman and CEO of Bellator, calling him "Bjork" during the interview:
Listen, I don't know enough about it 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.
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, it's a business where guys are going 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. You know what I mean?
Rebney responded on Twitter:
.@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
White isn't the first to question Rebney's involvement in the fighters' union.
Mixed martial arts agent Malki Kawa tweeted he will steer clear of the MMAAA:
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
Former UFC champion Randy Couture expressed similar reservations, per Bloody Elbow's Amy Dash: "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."
In one of Rebney's more famous missteps, he and Bellator were embroiled in a legal dispute with Eddie Alvarez after Alvarez attempted to sign with UFC in 2013. Bellator used a clause in his contract to match UFC's offer, preventing him from signing with the company. Bellator eventually released Alvarez from his deal in August 2014.
As the president of the biggest MMA company in the world, White has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Especially after WME-IMG spent $4 billion to purchase the company, UFC will want to do everything it can to keep costs down. A powerful fighters union would almost certainly eat into UFC's bottom line.
With that said, many will likely argue White's comments about Rebney speak to valid concerns about his role in the MMAAA.
