Former Bellator MMA promoter Bjorn Rebney did the majority of the talking when the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association was announced a little over a week ago, he was also very clear in saying that the MMAAA is not a union, but an association, a point he made several times during the conference call.
However, it seems that Rebney is starting to change his tune already. When he appeared on The MMA Hour, Rebney said that the MMAAA will eventually have to unionize.
“We recognize that if the UFC is going to resolve their differences, resolve these problems, that they are never going to do so without securing for themselves an antitrust exemption,” he said. “Once they’ve agreed to our demands and we’ve reached an agreement, they are going to want that and they would deserve it at that point. At that point we would become a union.”
Unionizing or not, Rebney is very clear in his stance that the UFC is ruining the sport by bullying the fighters they have signed to compete.
"I hate racists and I hate bullies more than anything on Earth. The UFC, WME-IMG are bullies," said Rebney.
The MMAAA may be an association right now due to California tax laws, something that was discussed during the initial announcement, but it appears that at some point down the line, the association will become a union. MMAAA sent Fightful a press release this week stating that they've been sent a cease and desist from signing fighters, which they plan to ignore.
