Bjorn Rebney talks PPV, WSOF challenge, Tito Ortiz and Pitbull Freire

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney on Monday confirmed an interview last week by Eddie Alvarez, where he stated his third fight with Michael Chandler for the Bellator lightweight title, would be the main event of the company’s first pay-per-…

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney on Monday confirmed an interview last week by Eddie Alvarez, where he stated his third fight with Michael Chandler for the Bellator lightweight title, would be the main event of the company’s first pay-per-view show.

No date was announced for the match, nor a time frame. Rebney teased that the current season’s lightweight tournament final could be at around the same time, or even on the same show. He also said both fighters are starting camp, indicating the fight wouldn’t be more than a few months away.

“I’m fortunate to be the guy who can put on Alvarez vs. Chandler III,” said Rebney, after two classic fights, with each winning one. “It’ll be a pay-per-view event. I haven’t finalized a date for it yet. The first fight they had was the best fight I’ve ever seen live. The second one was one of the best fights I’ve ever seen. Some guys stylistically cant help but give you pure magic. We’re going to do the third fight, the lightweight title will be on the line. They’re both in camp working hard.”

Rebney also spoke about a number of other subjects on Monday:

*He wasn’t as positive when asked about the future of Tito Ortiz, who turns 39 on Thursday. Ortiz had agreed to come out of retirement to face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on Nov. 2, only to suffer a fractured neck in training and have the bout canceled.

“It’s an unsettling conversation to have a specialist tell you that with the right kind of blow to the neck or spine, paralysis could result,” said Rebney. “The concern is still there. But just like any kind of injury he may be able to come back from it. Right now there isn’t a definite answer on when he could come back.”

*On Ortiz’s DWI arrest:

“We take DWI’s and drunk driving ridiculously seriously. My hope is that he can put that behind him. Thankfully nobody, including himself, was injured in the situation. It’s a serious situation. It’s not a joke. It’s something we take seriously and that everybody should take seriously.”

*On making a Daniel Straus vs. Pat Curran featherweight title rematch instead of giving tournament winner Patricio “Pitbull” Freire the next title shot:

“It’s really going to depend on the circumstances. I’ve got to analyze everything. With the Straus rematch with Curran, I had to balance out a trilogy, the first fight Pat knocked out Daniel, the second fight Daniel grounded out the W. I had to look at those two guys and Pitbull. We can debate this. I see Straus and Curran as two of the top five or six featherweights on the Earth.”

*On Freire’s unhappiness at not getting the title shot:
“He fought five times on Spike TV in 2013. I appreciate his enthusiasm. To be super clear, he hasn’t lost his world title fight. He’s getting it against the winner of Straus vs Curran.”

*On the challenge put forth by the World Series of Fighting for a night of interpromotional fights, winner-take-all, on pay-per-view:

“Look, and I understand the media likes to talk about this stuff and have fun with it, but the light heavyweight tournament announced today is the most competitive we’ve ever done. We’re bringing a 100 percent healthy Rampage Jackson into a tournament. We’re in 140 countries around the world and growing. We announced the Fox alliance, giving us the biggest distribution in Latin America when it comes to MMA. We’ve got the biggest distribution in the Middle East when it comes to MMA. We’re on Spike TV, who wrote the book on distribution of MMA. I’m focused on our business. I’m not focused on call outs.”