Today on MMA Nation on 106.7 The Fan: The Ultimate Fighter's Kris McCray, Bellator's CEO Bjorn Rebney

I would like you to ask Bjorn Rebney a couple of questions:
- Will Roger Huerta be fighting outside of Bellator soon?
- How did his recent conversation go with Scott Coker go? What are the odds we’ll see Eddie Alvarez vs Gilbert Melendez (if they both defend their belts) ?
- Any truth to the rumored Strikeforce vs Bellator New Years event? If not, I would like it quelled now so I don’t end up getting worked up for nothing.
- What are the odds of getting a consistent TV schedule for next season?

Thanks

I bring this up more than I probably should but it seems like a big deal to me. I mean considering how everybody always talks about how bad Zuffa’s likeness rights stuff is I think Bellator should be held to some kind of similar standard on such issues. Don’t get me wrong I’m not happy about the extent to which Zuffa goes with some of it’s likeness rights issues either but I just think there should be some consistent form of criticism. If what Zuffa is doing is bad then Bellator should endure the same criticism for their trademark clause.

Here is what I’m referring to in case no one is aware. On MMA Payout last year they did a breakdown of Bellator’s contract. That can be found here: http://mmapayout.com/2009/03/inside-the-bellator-contract/

In that breakdown the writer describes Bellator’s trademark clause as such:

One area of the ancillary agreement that is raising the ire of fighter advocates and mangers is a clause that has Bellator reserving the right to register as a trademark the fighter’s name, stage name, or identity for the purposes of Bellator carrying out their promotional duties. This sort of arrangement hearkens almost to the type of deals prevalent in the WWE, where the company holds trademarks over the performers stagenames and likenesses. As jaded as MMA reps are at this point by the contractual grabbiness of Zuffa contracts, this clause is seen in some quarters as being beyond the pale, which takes some doing. While some of the higher profile fighters like and Eddie Alvarez likely have the pull to bargain this clause out of their final deal, it leaves the majority of Bellator’s fighters with a bad deal in respect to the trademark issue. If they hold to this clause steadfastly, they may run into problems in the future recruiting new talent into the organization, provided they continue as a going venture.

Requiring the right to trademark a fighter’s name seems awfully bad to me. In fact this line sums it up:

As jaded as MMA reps are at this point by the contractual grabbiness of Zuffa contracts, this clause is seen in some quarters as being beyond the pale, which takes some doing.

Bellator’s trademark clause is “beyond the pale” compared to Zuffa’s but Zuffa gets killed and Bellator gets no criticism. Something about that is just very confusing to me. Does Zuffa deserve it? YES!!! Why then doesn’t Bellator deserve to get the same criticism??? I’m beginning to think I’m imagining something with this issue because nobody else seems to care that Bellator has this trademark clause. Granted they haven’t used it yet but the fact it’s in there and can be used is enough to warrant the criticism.

I hate to make this a long winded rant but while I’m at it. Another thing that seems excessive is this clause they have:

The contract also has a clause that states that if a fighter is declared champion of his division, wins a tournament or is a tournament runner-up, the contract automatically extends by 18 months or three fights.

I can see the need for promotions to have a champions clause. However I think they should be making an attempt to negotiate fair extensions rather than just automatically extending them at the current pay rate. So the fact they are automatically extending not just their champions but also their regular tournament winners and runner-ups seems a bit excessive to me. My question for this would be in the case of these automatic extensions they can only automatically extend the contract of their champions and these tournament runner-ups and winners by 3 fights one time and one time only right? Then they can become a free agent and test the market right?

Now to be fair that breakdown of the Bellator contract was done last year and they may have changed them after some complaints. However if they did no one has reported on it so I’m assuming those clauses are still in there.

While I’m at it one more question for Mr. Rebney. What are the issues between Bellator and Dave “Pee-Wee” Herman? What is the status of his contract and where does that stand in the courts?

Your show needs some humor. So I’m guessing you never got that Freddie Roach interview recorded? What exactly did he say about GSP? I was watching the UStream afterwards and it seemed like you were saying he said GSP was the most powerful MMA fighter he’s ever trained or something like that?

You REALLY should have Chad Dukes on when you have Dana on. You might wind up pissing him off like you did Marc Ratner. You will need a friendlier voice I think.

McKray dropping to welterweight?!?! how… he seems pretty huge, and gassing was already a prob at 185

Ask him about possibly signing Jay Hieron and Marlon Sandro (the latter for the WEC). Also, when can we expect Flyweights? One top U.S. Flyweight likened the WEC’s interest to a broken promise, so it’d be nice to know when we can expect that weight class to be added.

what the hell Jonathon Snowden wants to ban me for critiquing Total MMA? What’s going on here? I’m not insulting him or anything but if he wants me to start a full thread about his post-UFC 115 article seems a 180 degree about face from how he slammed Chuck Liddell in Total MMA I will.