Bellator CEO angrily denies rumours of collapse
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has assured fans that all is well with his mixed martial arts promotion, angrily denying rumours that his company was on the verge of collapse.
Over the weekend, a report on middleeasy.com suggested that the company’s main financial backers were getting impatient and on the verge of pulling the rug from under Rebney’s feet.
But Rebney told mmajunkie.com that was completely and utterly untrue.
"Either it's someone just starting rumours for the sake of starting rumours, or it's just the most ridiculous type of amateurish nonsense," Rebney said of the report. "I don't even like to call it journalism
because it has no connection to reality.
"That blog, whoever that is that wrote that, is just so filled with nonsense. It's completely, unequivocally untrue on every front they wrote. It's literally as if someone stepped out and just said, 'I'm
going to create whichever fantasy I choose to create, and I'm going to write it.' There wasn't even the slightest hint of accuracy or truth in anything that showed up on that blog.”
Bellator has earned praise from serious MMA fans because of their tournament-oriented shows, which serve as vehicle for introducing many up-and-coming prospects to the MMA scene as well as having provided
some spectacular fights.
But the promotion has struggled to gain traction with many casual fans, because of the lack of name value of their fighters. Attendance has been poor at many of their shows, and their television broadcasts
on FOX Sports Net are frequently pre-empted by other programming. Bellator was funded by a hedge fund with investors that understood the company would be taking initial losses, but many commentators have speculated that Bellator might be running out of time
to start turning a profit.
But Rebney also told mmajunkie.com they were right on target for their earnings, and that they had a new TV deal in the works.
"The issues that we've faced in the last two seasons with pre-emption and delay will no longer be an issue with fans wanting to watch Bellator," Rebney said.
"We're in an incredibly stable spot right now, and we're on the cusp of making announcements that our current investment group is thrilled with."
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