TAPOLOGY EXCLUSIVE: CEO Bjorn Rebney on Bellator vs. Strikeforce

Check it out at the Tapology Blog.

Rebney talks about the barriers currently standing in the way of a co-promotional effort between the two promotions as well as his thoughts on how a superfight between Eddie Alvarez and Gilbert Melendez would go down! Bjorn also discusses some news on Seasons 4 and 5 in 2011.

I hope they figure out the TV problems.  I like watching bellator but it was never on TV when they said it would be.

Yeah that was a huge let-down. Rebney was pretty frank about it though, so we have to at least hand that to him, but it has to change for Seasons 4 and 5 or Bellator's going to be buried by 2012.

I love the Bellator product. They really figured out how to set up a tournament in MMA. 

Multiple fights in a night just isn't the right model, but Bellator's version of having 3-4 weeks in between each fight seems to work pretty well. In their first 3 seasons I can't think of a single competitor that advanced but subsequently had to withdraw due to injury.  Maybe a little bit of luck involved, but compare that against the Shine tournament which became an injury-riddled mess.

Hopefully Bellator figures out their TV situation in a way that more people start watching it. It was definitely frustrating for me. As soon as football season started, all the Bellator shows got pre-empted by football analysis shows.

I like Bellator but even with a TV deal they are hemorrhaging money. They need the Alves vs Melendez fight more than Strikeforce does. Bellator's survival may hinge on their ability to face and defeat Strikeforce champions. Without that Bellator will have a lot of trouble hanging on to investors.