Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media cong ...

from 2008 until June 2014.

Background

Rebney attended

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney did legal work in construction-defect then moved to the sports-law firm Steinberg Moorad & Dunn. In 2001, Rebney formed a partnership with

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professiona ...

. The company was Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Inc. The two had a falling out and the business dissolved. Rebney is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Bellator MMA

Rebney's passion was for

Mixed Martial Arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

, which made him decide to start a MMA promotion. In his search for investors to fund his idea of a promotion, Rebney had sixty-one investor meetings within 16 months. To fund these trips to meet with investors and fighters, Rebney spent his savings and took out a second and third

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

on his home. In Rebney's 62nd meeting with investors, he met executives at Plainfield Asset Management, who were familiar with the sport from prior meetings with management of

EliteXC Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decemb ...

and the

International Fight League The International Fight League was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion billed as the world's first MMA league. It was founded on January 7, 2006, and closed on July 31, 2008.

who looked for capital to stay in business. Among the investors were Tim Danaher, who was the company's vice president at the time. After a follow-up meeting in New York, Plainfield agreed to provide the capital, which led to the creation of

Bellator Fighting Championships Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media conglomerate Paramount Global. ...

. In October 2011, television and media conglomerate

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

(now ViacomCBS) purchased majority ownership of Bellator. Despite the company no longer being under Rebney's ownership, he remained Chairman and CEO of the company until June 18, 2014, when it was announced by Viacom that Rebney had been removed from his position and would no longer have anything to do with Bellator. In addition to Rebney, Tim Danaher lost his positions as president and COO. He was replaced by former

Strikeforce Strike Force may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Strike Force'' (video game), a 1991 arcade game *'' Commandos: Strike Force'', a 2006 video game *'' Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce'', a 2009 video game *''Marvel Strike Force'', ...

president and CEO

Scott Coker Scott Coker (born October 3, 1962) is an American mixed martial artist, Taekwondoin, former movie stuntman, and combat sports promoter. He is the founder and former CEO of MMA promotion Strikeforce and the current President of Bellator MMA. Back ...

. Bjorn Rebney's former boss,

Kevin Kay Kevin Kay is an American television executive. A native of New Jersey, he began his career at NBC's Rockefeller Center studios in New York City working on ''Jeopardy!'' and ''The Tonight Show'' before joining ''Saturday Night Live'' and ultimatel ...

, later explained the reason for Rebney's separation from the company. Rebney was committed to keeping Bellator a tournament-based promotion, while Kay felt it would have limited the growth of the organization.

MMAAA

In November 2016, it was announced that Rebney was chosen as an advisor to the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association (MMAAA). Among the members of the former organization were Georges St.Pierre,

Cain Velasquez Caín Ramirez Velasquez (born July 28, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist, currently appearing for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). He is widely known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ...

T.J. Dillashaw Tyler Jeffrey Dillashaw (born February 7, 1986) is an American retired professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion. Dillashaw competed on ...

, Tim Kennedy and

Donald Cerrone Donald Cerrone (born March 29, 1983), known professionally by his nickname "Cowboy", is an American retired mixed martial artist, actor, and former professional kickboxer. He competed in the Lightweight and Welterweight division for the Ultimat ...

Personal life

Rebney's father is Jack Rebney, an unintended

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

star, and later subject of the documentary ''

Winnebago Man ''Winnebago Man'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Ben Steinbauer. The film follows the Internet phenomenon created by a series of twenty-year-old outtakes from a Winnebago sales video featuring profane outbursts from a salespers ...

'' (2009). Rebney is married to Huma Gruaz, an advertising and public relations executive. The couple have two children, Jonathan and Celine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebney, Bjorn Mixed martial arts executives Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Ohio University alumni American Jews