Rebney: Bellator will use 'scratch and sniff' method for future pay-per-views

Bellator’s first attempt at a pay-per-view this past fall didn’t work out. But with that out of the way, pushing forward with try No. 2 at a pay-per-view seems to be suiting Bjorn Rebney much better.

The Bellator founder and CEO has his spirits high ahead of Bellator 120, which takes place May 17. The pay-per-view has two big fights on the bill for buyers. Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez meets former champ Michael Chandler in a trilogy rematch, and Quinton Jackson takes on Muhammed Lawal in the light heavyweight tournament finals for the chance to fight for the title.

Bellator 120 takes place at Landers Center in Southaven, Miss., just outside Memphis – the home city of “Rampage” Jackson. The pay-per-view main card is expected to follow prelims on Spike TV.

“I’m stoked. I’m unbelievably excited,” Rebney told MMAjunkie earlier this month before Bellator 112. “I look at this pay-per-view and I say to myself, honest to God, if I were a fan and had nothing to do with this company, I’d be excited about it. That’s the measuring stick. ‘Mo’ and ‘Rampage,’ and Alvarez-Chandler III, they’re good fights and compelling for different reasons. One of them has all this animosity and hatred to it. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be an awesome show.”

Rebney said doing this one might seem a little bit easier since the promotion did the legwork on what it thought was going to be its first pay-per-view this past fall, Bellator 106. The plans for that one fell through when headliner Tito Ortiz fell off with an injury for his bout against Jackson. Instead, the company elected to keep the rest of the card intact, but put it on its broadcast partner of Spike TV – with three big title fights on the bill.

This time around, though, Rebney feels good about what he’s seeing leading up to May, with the water of November’s failed attempt under the bridge.

“I’ve been around the fight industry now going on 23 years,” he said. “Doing it isn’t so much the issue. There are a lot of pieces, a ton of moving pieces that go into pay-per-views. This one’s coming together really well. It feels good going in.”

Rebney said Bellator looked at locations around the country before deciding on Bellator 120's home near Memphis, which will give Jackson a big hometown boost against Lawal. He said “Rampage” had been in his ear for a while pushing a fight in his home city.

But it wasn’t just the “Rampage” influence, after the fighter promised a fight there with him on the bill would “do huge numbers.” Rebney said NBA playoff season was eating up venues that couldn’t commit, not knowing if their team would have advanced. And on a Saturday night, high school and college graduations were taking a toll, as well. Landers Center worked out.

But as for whether Bellator has any plans to have success in its second first pay-per-view, and then immediately start planning more, Rebney said the promotion will move forward cautiously and consider moves off of Spike TV when they work.

“I want to do pay-per-views when it absolutely makes sense, like scratch and sniff,” he said. “Like, we could sit down and look at each other absolutely straight-faced and say, ‘Yeah, that deserves to be on pay-per-view.’ Asking people to pay $49 for something, you have to provide a show that really sings. It’s got to feel like a big fight show. So two, maybe three (a year). But if it doesn’t fit, we’re just going to do it on Spike.”

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