Ronda Rousey has established herself, and quite quickly, as one of the biggest stars in MMA.

But the biggest star in the game? Not so fast, Bjorn Rebney says.

Rebney, Bellator MMA’s founder and CEO, believes the UFC’s women’s bantamweight champion is a big deal, but also believes she’s been put in that position based a little more on her potential selling power than really being the best in the world.

And in fact, Rebney wouldn’t mind seeing Rousey fight Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino to truly find out if she’s a big star because she’s the best, along with being a star because she’s been well-promoted.

“I would never want to verbalize disrespect for a fighter … but to characterize her as the biggest star in MMA is, I believe, a little disrespectful to a lot of fighters who have put in year after year after year in this game,” Rebney recently told MMAjunkie. “If Ronda fights ‘Cyborg’ and she could beat ‘Cyborg,’ I think that would be a big statement as to where she is in the game. But to characterize her as the biggest star is a bit disingenuous. I think there are a lot of huge stars in MMA.”

The UFC long has been the clear leader in MMA promotions. But Bellator, now only five years old, has emerged as the No. 2 organization with promotions like the WEC and Strikeforce shuttered and folded into the UFC.

Rebney attributes that now to the promotion’s broadcast partner, Spike TV, which used to be the UFC’s cable home.

But when it comes to his biggest rivals at the UFC, he believes Rousey still has some things to prove.

“In my own personal opinion, it seems like a very forced marketing position that someone’s taking because she’s attractive and she appears on a lot of magazine covers, and I think we saw that once before at Strikeforce, and (Gina Carano) fought ‘Cyborg’ and lost handedly,” Rebney said. “No disrespect to Brock (Lesnar), but he was forced into a situation very quickly coming off very few fights to be positioned as a world champ because he could be sold on pay-per-view. Not because he beat the best fighters in the world, but because he could be sold. I think we’re seeing the exact same thing in Ronda, and anyone who would tell you differently is not speaking the truth.”

Hear what Rebney has to say about his promotion vs. the UFC and how he believes his champions stack up against the rest of the world.

For more on the Bellator and UFC schedules, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.