Rebney takes UFC, owners to task for shoddy fighter treatment

Bjorn Rebney emerged from the MMA shadows with a vengeance.

As the adviser and strategist for the newly formed Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association, Rebney made it clear that their main goal is to negotiate with the UFC for a significantly greater revenue split and to gain benefits and care for fighters after their careers are over.

Related: GSP, Rebney, UFC stars align to form association for fighter rights

The former Bellator CEO specifically singled out the UFC's new owners WME-IMG for what he perceives as a lack of accountability when it comes to making sure that the promotion's employees are fairly compensated.

"When the WME-IMG conglomerate asks them to risk everything, human decency says they should be paid fairly," said Rebney on a conference call Wednesday.

"In addition to 50-percent margin in $600 million revenue, WME is paying themselves a management fee," Rebney continued. "I couldn't make that level of greed up."

He went on to suggest that WME-IMG should have met with the entire UFC roster to forge an agreement where the fighters would receive their just due.

Rebney boasted that in his most successful years with Bellator, fighters were given 53 percent of the revenue and he claimed (though he declined to elaborate) that he has data that will expose UFC's supposedly questionable business practices.

As for what exactly the MMAAA is, Wednesday's speakers were skimpy on the details, but Rebney insisted that the association is not a union and that a union would "delay everything by four or five years." Regardless of their classification, he emphasized urgency and that he believes MMA will not exist in 10 years without major changes on the business end of things.