Bjork has had to do a little damage control with all the negativity associated with his (Viacom's) company. Just to try and put everything into perspective, I was gonna try to shed some light on the questionable shit that has been said by Eddie and Bjork.
I've seen so many people who still think Eddie is somehow in the wrong and for whatever reason (to be a contrarian) and they actually think Bellator is innocent in this whole mess. Just to try and set the record straight for anyone who falls into the above description:
Eddie fulfilled everything that was in his contract.
That issues boils down to Bellator had a "right to match" clause in their contract, no different than any other contract in either UFC or BFC.
[This is another issue entirely with this, as most people aren't aware of the history, but Ken Pavia stole a standard UFC contract and took it to Bellator, so that they could compare the structure of both contracts in order to not just compete w/UFC free agency, but to try and get the upper hand over the UFC in these contract negotiation situations. Whether it was beneficial to anyone hasn't been established, to my knowledge.]
UFC sued BFC (Settlement? Anyone know?). You take that into account and add in the fact that beside the standard BFC contract being so restrictive, they are designed to one up the UFC by adding an even more restrictive clause that essentially give Bellator the rights, all the rights to a fighters likeness.
[Now I'm not sure if that is for everyone in BFC or just for their top talent, but didn't I read where Ingrained Media exposed this the other day on the UG?
I thought that even if Eddie had just waited out the matching period, BFC would still essentially own Eddie's soul.]
Eddie's contention goes something like this:
They (BFC's lawyers) tried to circumvent Ed's lawyers/manager by sending him a copy of a contract that Ed immediately noticed had an important part of the contract altered. After noticing the discrepancy, he notified his team and they called bullshit.
BFC tried to cover their tracks/act dumb/play it like it was a misunderstanding, but the writing was on the wall by then and Eddie said he'd see them in court.
All Eddie want was what he was entitled to, to get paid exactly what UFC's offer said BFC should pay if Ed doesn't go to UFC. That includes what is obvious (the show/win monies) and the exact expected PPV monies.
It really is as simple as that.
Someone said earlier why, if Eddie has a case and is right in every aspect of this case, why didn't the first judge side with Eddie.
Simple.
At that point in the suit, it wasn't up to the judge to determine if a SpikeTV platform for PPV is comparable to a FOX/UFC platform for PPV.
That will be left up to the trial judge and whether or not there is a jury involved. Some people have said that the first round was bad for Eddie and it's a sign of how this will play out in BFC's favor.
I disagree.
If BFC truly had a case, the judge would have ended the suit right there on the first day based on the fact that everything lines up in Bellator's favor.
That's not reality and I would expect a jury will see the difference between a Fox/UFC platform & Spike/Viacom.
But since Eddie never signed the contract that was sent to him with the altered wording, I suppose it isn't necessary for that to be filed in court, which means Eddie can always pull it out anytime Bjorn shows no problem in everyone else seeing the language in the original contracts.
I think Bjork was embarrassed by Eddie and decided to do a little PR damage control. But he is a crafty, forked tongue lawyer who speaks out both sides of mouth and plays the semantics game.
In the Luke Thomas interview, Luke, being the terrible journalist that he is, forgot to ask the correct questions and Bjork took advantage of that.
That's what these asshole lawyers are trained to do.
His problem is no matter what bullshit he's spewing from his mouth about how much he loves this sport, he loves money more than anything and it shows.
First and foremost, he's a boxing promoter who comes from that school of thought where always look out for No.1, yourself, and All fighters are expendable.
I look at his time in MMA as a failed experiment so far. His investment didn't pay off so he had to unload most of his stock in his company long before Spike/Viacom got involved.
How much do you think he has left if he gave most of it away to the first investors just to keep it afloat long enough to ride out the UFC's move away from Spike, in the hopes of moving in on that "coveted spot"? Only to give away the majority of what's left to Viacom, essentially making Bjorn nothing more than the public mouth piece of "his" (Viacom's) own company. Eddie pretty much confirmed that much.
Bjork doesn't care any more for the fighters than he's forced to admit. Suing your fighters, lying about showing interest in certain former UFC fighters, only to say he was never interested in Leonard after Leonard said publicly he was spurning Bellator for something more secure and a less restrictive path back to UFC. That doesn't back up his claim that either he is or "his" company is more fighter friendly than any other organization.
The difference between MMA and Boxing is its fans. It's an important distinction as a good majority of MMA fans are a lot more dedicated to the ins and outs of the sport. In a way they are a lot more educated in that same sense as well. Especially when it comes to some of the newer boxing fans, those who became fans either thru the late 80's or the 90's up until now. Boxing is a lot different than it was back in the 40's - 80's.
And with that, Bjorn comes from that era, that same scene in which Boxing was rife with internal conflict, corruption, and politics. Steroids and drugs and death in and out of the ring. It was a huge disturbance in the patience of most boxing fans. Boxing is so much of a mess right now with the many different weight classes and the alphabet soup promotions/belts, it's hard to keep up with everything. But in MMA, when some scumbag boxing promoter who was run off from boxing for being more terrible at his job than their worse promoter, Don King, comes over to our sport and starts saying one thing, but his actions show an entirely different aspect to his character, people are gonna call bullshit.
One thing that really pissed me off was the missed opportunity by Luke Thomas. If in real time you hear Bjorn Rebney say that Spike/Viacom are more responsible than UFC for getting MMA mainstream simply because they've pumped in "Hundreds of Millions" of dollars and you don't call him out on that blatant attempt to revise history, you can't honestly call yourself a journalist. I'd be embarrassed if I were Luke. All the shit Eddie gave the media, and almost all of them blew it when they had Bjork on the record.
I understand this ran long. Patience.
I knew this post would be long, but I didn't realize it was gonna take up this much space. 7 characters short, sorry about that.
Yawn....
Eddie fulfilled everything that was in his contract.
No... he didn't.
He agreed they could match... he signed that deal, if they matched, he should be fighting.
It will be interesting to see how it all ends, but I am sitll a huge Bellator fan, free fights, and they're putting on really really exciting cards.... For free. . .
UFC has sued Randy, Tito, Bj Penn, etc.... These things happen, I'm not going to stop watching exciting fights I get for free because of some contract issue with a former champion.
Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Bellator Fan - If an adult says "Bjork" because DW did that tells you everything.
Basically.
I just assume the 3 or 4 people who keep posting on here about "Bjork" work for Zuffa.
ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
Bellator Fan - If an adult says "Bjork" because DW did that tells you everything.Lol go to sleep djork
12SixElbow -ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
Don't take anybody who regurgitates Dana's childish insults seriouly.
12SixElbow -Yeah, its hard to make a convincing, intellectual argument with that many spelling and grammatical errors. Also, the aggressive, bias tone took away from potential credibility.ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
ShoreBreaker420 -12SixElbow -ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
Bro you've been a member of this website 241 days, and you've posted well over 20K times, you're cruising at nearly 100 posts a day, I don't think that makes me the nerd.
BubblesNS -Some people are good at spelling, while the rest are just good lookin, sorry nerds no pie12SixElbow -Yeah, its hard to make a convincing, intellectual argument with that many spelling and grammatical errors. Also, the aggressive, bias tone took away from potential credibility.ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
12SixElbow -18,000 posts in a week got a problem? Lol your a haterShoreBreaker420 -12SixElbow -ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
Bro you've been a member of this website 241 days, and you've posted well over 20K times, you're cruising at nearly 100 posts a day, I don't think that makes me the nerd.
MMA Lives Here - Lets see OP run a successful MMA promotion and try to stand his ground against the UFCSon I doubt you could run a lap around the kitty pool
That's fine, it's your right to support a company who mismatches fights all the time, and not on a Chael Sonnen fighting for the title type mismatch, this isn't anything like what UFC has or hasn't done. Belltor intentionally locks up fight where a far more experience fighter is fighting some pup fighter or a scrub. It's difficult to describe how atrocious some of their matchups have been. And it comes back to bite them in the ass. They never expected Michael Chandler to beat Eddie Alvarez. Eddie at that time was the lone fighter in their stable who had a legitimate claim to being the best at that weight class. They also never expected to see Emmanuel Newton put away their shiny new and quite overpriced investment in such stupidly spectacular fashion.
It's also your right to overlook both the recent history of Bellator/Bjorn and the overall history of Bjorn. People rag on Dana White for being tough on Randy or Tito or Bj or a select few other fighters. But those people are idiots who don't know the history of why Zuffa sued Randy.
If you owned a not-yet-striving company who were on the brink of breaking into the mainstream and your champion of one the most important divisions tried to retire with fights left on his contract, just to take a fight somewhere else, you would sue him as well. It's as simple as Randy was in the wrong, he realized he was in the wrong, UFC STILL promoted him, paid him, increased his profile, and put him in a spot to fight for another championship. Same thing with Tito, with BJ. All of them stayed with the company, each having their profiles raised despite the past history.
You can't compare those instances to anything recently pulled by Bjork. Roger Hollett. Eddie Alvarez. Zach Fun Size. Tyson Nam. Jonathon Brookins. Pee Wee Herman. You can't honestly say Bellator was honest and did these fighters a favor for their careers.
I'm not saying don't watch Bellator. I'm saying most rational fans see it for what it is, that it's a shitty situation and several sides are being played. But that this is exactly what will eventually tear MMA apart, is if more companies like Bellator continue to treat fighters with disrespect and threaten to sue them into submission if they don't stick with them on their terms for the remainder of their careers.
Make no mistake about it, Bjork was trying to threaten both Dana White and Zuffa and Fox. When he said how they weren't in this to be a feeder system to UFC (Ha!) or to be the number 2 promotion, that was his way of trying to intimidate and provoke an insane outburst or reaction from Dana that would try to draw some of the heat off of Bellator. Bjork did "his" company no favors by doing these interviews.
BubblesNS -That many?!12SixElbow -Yeah, its hard to make a convincing, intellectual argument with that many spelling and grammatical errors. Also, the aggressive, bias tone took away from potential credibility.ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
There is one error
Your instead of you're
Bellator Fan - If an adult says "Bjork" because DW did that tells you everything.
I say Bjork because I'm aware of who Bjork is, I'm a fan of her music, Bjorn is close to Bjork, Bjorn is a fucking moron, you are an idiot for thinking some men are easily influenced by other men, and I thought saying Bjork over and over again is funny as fuck. Just because you desire to see an unsullied Bjorn constantly be praised in these forums, doesn't mean other people have to share your desire to swing from his ballsack.
Plus, I wrote the damn post, I can call him whatever the fuck I want.
You on the other hand, have come across, to me at least, as just another anonymous moron who enjoys hiding behind pseudonyms and generally making asinine comments that contribute nothing to the topic at hand.
Aleck911 -Grammar is all these nerds have leftBubblesNS -That many?!12SixElbow -Yeah, its hard to make a convincing, intellectual argument with that many spelling and grammatical errors. Also, the aggressive, bias tone took away from potential credibility.ShoreBreaker420 -Reed Rothchild - Op is an idiotHe's an idiot because your too stupid to understand ?? Lol
Ten points for shit grammar while calling someone stupid, well done fren.
There is one error
Your instead of you're
ShoreBreaker420 -Bellator Fan - If an adult says "Bjork" because DW did that tells you everything.Lol go to sleep djork
Ah Ha! See? He gets it. Djork. AH HA!!!!!!111!1!11!
To the spiteful idiots who come here and add nothing to what this post is about, does it feel good knowing it's early in the morning and you have nothing better to do than to come in here and say some of the gayest shit possible?