Bjorn Rebney’s time with Bellator MMA is over.
The founder, chairman and CEO of the growing mixed martial arts promotion has left the company, officials from Spike TV and Viacom — Bellator’s parent company — announced Wednesday.
Rebney founded Bellator in 2008 and the promotion has held 121 events to date, seven of which took place in Ontario. It recently broke into the pay-per-view market with last month’s Bellator 120 that garnered more than 100,000 buys. Bellator is currently regarded as the No. 1 competitor to the UFC.
Bellator president and COO Tim Danaher also left the company.
“It is with bittersweet emotions that I announce that I am leaving the company I founded,” Rebney stated in a press release. “I have great pride in having turned my vision into reality, a thriving business with television distribution to over 140 countries around the world, a partnership with one of the world’s largest entertainment giants and wide array of sponsors, partners and strategic allies all over the globe…I will miss the courageous, strong and dedicated fighters I have had the pleasure of promoting, and equally, I will miss the incredibly hard working, remarkable team that has become a family for me over the years. Viacom and Tim and I differed in our views of the right strategic direction for Bellator, but Tim and I both wish them well.”
Former Strikeforce president Scott Coker was named Rebney’s replacement. Coker founded Strikeforce as a kickboxing promotion in 1985 before making the transition into MMA in 2006. Strikeforce became the No. 2 promotion in the sport before being purchased by Zuffa, the UFC’s parent company, in March 2011.
“My plan is to go from a tournament format to a more traditional format, to more of a super-fight format,” Coker said on a conference call Wednesday. “We will do tournaments when the situation makes sense. I think a tournament can make sense, but it has to be the right time and the fighters have to be right.”
