As Bellator CEO, Bjorn Rebney rings the NASDAQ closing bell. Photo credit: Ben Gabbe/ Getty

Former Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney—who is named in a press release touting an “industry defining” announcement tomorrow, and whose wife’s public relations firm sent the release out—is the owner of the domains mmaathletesassociation.info, mmaathletesassociation.net, and mmaathletesassociation.org. It has been widely speculated that tomorrow’s announcement, which includes UFC fighters Cain Velasquez, Georges St-Pierre, Donald Cerrone, and others, has to do with the formation of a fighters union.


Rebney founded Bellator in 2008 and sold it to Viacom in 2011, before being pushed out in June 2014. In October 2015 he registered the mmaathletesassociation domain names, and updated them this past October. This is especially interesting considering that Rebney doesn’t have the best reputation in the sport and is a seemingly odd fit as an avatar of fighters’ rights: The Eddie Alvarez saga, which at one point saw Bellator suing its own top fighter, is a good example of why many in MMA considered Bellator under Rebney to be even worse for working fighters than the UFC.


Rebney also seems to be the owner of the domain names mihsportsentertainment.com and mihsportsent.net, as well as digiso-pr.com. (None of the domains are currently active.) He didn’t respond to requests for comment about a potential MMA Athletes Association.

Update (11:55 p.m. ET): Bjorn Rebney also owns the domains mmaaassociation.com and themmaaa.com, according to a more complete WHOIS lookup. Both were registered both in mid-August. Unlike the other inactive domains, themmaaa.com displays a password protected login, and the following logo:

h/t cameraphoner

