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Bellator on War Machine rape quips: He really doesn’t mean to offend you
By Zach Arnold | August 22, 2013
War Machine wrote on Twitter that he was going to rape his girlfriend. Read Matt Roth’s item here about what exactly was said.
Subsequently, Bjorn Rebney went into damage control mode while Machine said his remarks were “taken out of context” and called critics “sensitive ass bitches.”
Jamie Penick says that War Machine’s rape tweets bring a small time response from Bellator to a big league problem:
If Bellator and Viacom want to be seen as on par with the UFC, and if they legitimately have aspirations to take on that top mantle themselves, then the handling of this is simply not good enough. It hurts their image for continuing to employ him with nothing more than a simple statement being made hoping he’ll learn his lesson. There’s no consequences here for him.
Bellator is a big league promotion now, and wants to be seen as such, so they deserve the same type of scrutiny the UFC receives when something like this happens. This reaction from Rebney and simple acceptance of the situation just isn’t good enough. The disdain towards his spot on the roster and the fact that they promote him more heavily than some others is going to be felt through the fanbase, and that’s a continued negativity they just don’t need.
The good news is that War Machine has some new updates for you:
So we're about to hop in the shower and I throw @ChristyMack on the floor, pin her there, and jerk it on top of her..who does that?! Lol
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 18, 2013
Not gonna lie, sometimes it fucks with my head during my workout when I know my woman is at "work"…Fuckkkkk…lol…what can ya do? F' it!
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 19, 2013
LIVE sex shows with me n @ChristyMack coming soon and once per month =] Stay tuned..
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 21, 2013
Don’t worry, War Machine is still accepting sponsors for his upcoming fight in September. Cashing in with Bloodstain Lane or War Machine, who’s better to invest your sponsorship money with?
In an interview on Tuesday afternoon with Jordan Breen of Sherdog, Bjorn Rebney was asked about War Machine’s rape comments and why Bellator is keeping him around when other fighters have gotten axed for transgressions.
“Yeah, you know, I mean, look… the vast, vast majority, the overwhelming majority of guys, um, are cognizant of the voice that they have and use a good amount of restraint. I mean, you know, you look at, you know, fighters that we’ve got under contract, guys like Pat Curran and Eduardo Dantas and Michael Chandler and a series of guys that, you know, they’ve always got something positive to say and they’ve got an opinion on things and they voice it but they do show a lot of restraint.
“And then you know, look, you’ve got guys like Jon that just are absolute wildcards and, you know, when God was putting those chips in everybody’s heads that stopped them from saying exactly what they were thinking, he never got one and he just says whatever he thinks and often times disregards who it will offend or how it will impact people and just goes. And that’s, you know, that’s a tough part of it and it’s been a balancing act on my part talking to Jon and explaining, man, there’s certain things you just can’t say and here’s why it offends people and, you know, look…
“The reality with Jon, and that’s the reason that we’ve kept him and I’ve kept working with him is I don’t think his intent is to offend people. I honestly don’t think that he’s intending to offend people and there’s no doubt that he does. But I think that he has a very different perception of things than, you know, almost 100% of the rest of us. You know, it’s just, he just doesn’t, I mean if… and I know it’s hard for people who have a certain degree of animosity towards Jon to understand or hear this and I get it, I get it completely. Some of the things that he’s said, has said in the past just make my skin crawl. But if you met Jon and you spent time with him, what you’ll get out of most people that have spent time with him is that he’s not a bad guy, he’s not an animosity-driven hating type of personality. He just, he just digests information and spits it out differently than anyone I’ve ever met and sometimes it offends the heck out of people and, you know, we’re trying to keep him in the organization and trying to put a cap on some of that but, you know, we’ll see where it goes. I wouldn’t want to make like a future prohibitive statement about Jon Koppenhaver but, um, you know, he understood what he did wrong and that when those comments about rape he was apologetic about it. Um… and hopefully a guy like that can learn from something like that.”
Later in the interview, Rebney said this about War Machine and Rampage Jackson:
“I always view the cup as half-full and I will tell you this, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has been amazing for this brand and, as he said, he and I are still in the honeymoon phase and we’re still open-mouth kissing.”
We’ll see how long that lasts. Bjorn also said that Michael Chandler is the best Lightweight in MMA and says he has no idea what will happen in regards to Ben Askren staying with Bellator or signing a contract with the UFC.
Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 40 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
There will be nothing said about Rampage, the Culinary Union doesn’t care what happens in Bellator and wont try to stir up any trouble with Women’s groups or sponsors
If you’re worried about idiotic, offensive tweets, I don’t know if I’d invest in Bloodstain either since he’s fond of insulting people’s gay siblings.
“You are white hillbilly scum & your bro LOVES cock in his mouth”
“you are HILLBILLY WHITE TRASH & your brother plays naked twister with men”
“Stop being SALTY fuck boy…go get some pussy unlike you”re brother”
“How much cock has you brother sucked this year….you can’t shine my shoes you fucking pussy “
I don’t mind what most fighters say. But War Machine is a different animal completely. He seems to be mentally off. Certainly not a fighter that belongs on National Television.
But this is what happens when Viacom gets desperate. They are looking for attention and ratings any way possible. So a fighter can basically be a complete creep and they are going to keep him in order to try and make some traction in the MMA universe.
****
Chandler the best in the world? Just like Hector Lombard was?
And what they are doing with Ben Askren is terrible. Don’t get me wrong, Askren has been boring in Bellator overall. But to have a guy who completely dominates your division and is your champion…. And to say you are not interested in signing him again…. Makes Bellator look second rate.
****
Anybody notice that Rebney is throwing verbal shots out a lot more lately? At the UFC & WSOF. Things must be going bad over there in ViacomLand for him to be trying to fight with the UFC.
Bellator has been a complete ratings failure when they can’t attach themselves to TNA. And long-term they can’t always attach themselves to TNA because SpikeTV will need to use other shows off of TNA to build up.
It is going to get really ugly when they decide to leave the MMA business. Something tells me a lot of fighters will not be working for over a year as they try to play vindictive ex-girlfriend role to the UFC.
Who cares what people say?
What a bunch of little girls we’ve become.
And I would counter with the following: What’s the deal with so many MMA fighters feeling the need to make rape remarks on social media?
It wouldn’t be tolerated from athletes in other sports, right?
I reckon it’s just the caliber of human being we’re dealing with in this ‘sport’ skipper. Doesn’t bother me none. I reckon if I did fret over such things, I`d likely not have been attracted to this tomfoolery in the first place.
I think the rape remarks are simply reflective of the quantity of these types of jokes in the population as a whole. The term “rape” has more or less become a normalized term in U-30 slang.
I agree. There’s nothing left to save anymore. Now we just sit and wait and hope for some calamity to visit us and relieve us of our misery.
Speaking of tweets Mayhem Miller had this to say yesterday,
FIRST MY CHURCH, NOW MY GIRL. @DANAWHITE TELL YOUR GUY IN THE VAN TO CLUTCH HIS PIECE WHEN HE SEE ME COMIN
Seriously this guy needs help and if I was Dana I would get a restraining order on him, he seems to be blaming him for all the trouble in his life and seems extremely paranoid.
Anything Bellator does is terrible – 45 Huddle
What are they doing good right now?
It’s not like I am talking all roses for the UFC either. They just had two bad PPV’s in terms of buyrates.
Bellator is in desperation mode right now…
I lol’d.
shownolove.ca made 100 t-shirts for BSL and couldn’t sell them all.
lol I love that Zach is still pushing the BSL thing as earth shattering news and not just some guy with a website/social media platform making an ad deal. Is this like piece #4 or #5 he’s linked into that?
Nice troll attempt. Point, which went over your head, is that people got worked up about BSL getting cash but it didn’t stop him from getting $ and it’s not stopping War Machine from getting $, either.
Who got worked up about BSL? Who even cares?
Hey, so according to boxrec, there’s 4 boxing cards under CSAC sanction this weekend. When should I expect combat sports in California to die again?
You’re a couple of months late to the party, but nice try.
The issues heading forward for the commission have nothing to do with desire for promoters to run shows in the state — it has everything to do with what is coming in court, how much it will cost, the skeletons that will revealed, and how the factionalization will start to come into play.
Sides are hardening behind the scenes — and the only question is how much damage goes public from the politics, firings, and cash that has to get dished out. Talk to me in a year or two when things start eroding on the regulatory side. Florida, that hell hole of a regulatory state, is already benefiting by getting some bigger shows that should be happening out in CA.
Golden Boy show at Stub Hub/Home Depot is a mess in terms of officials – 5 judges, 5 referees, a crazy mixture of inspectors, but at least Andy will be there for a boxing show for a change.
Every time I ask “So what is the end game?” you start talking about PRIDE and how people questioned you there and this is your big story and all that. Great. Here we are, waiting again for the real juice in year 3 or 4. It keeps being pushed back.
“FL is going to get California’s shows”? Tell me about these shows. What shows are ending up in Florida that should be in California? It isn’t a UFC card. It isn’t boxing cards. Are we supposed to believe Bellator is a big show?
There’s a lot behind the scenes happening politically in California that will play out publicly in due time. Patience. You gave me grief years ago when I said a collapse of PRIDE was coming while they were running Dome shows. I’m not spouting ill-informed claims here.
You’re absolutely right that fan appetite for cards in California is high. What will change in the future, however, is who is involved and why. Sorry to be cryptic here, but have to be right at the moment.
Like I said: when pressed about what the end game is, you talk about PRIDE and how you predicted their fall based on the journalism that took place over in Japan. You can’t tell me what promoters are leaving California, you can’t tell me that people are not wanting to see combat sports in California, you can’t tell me what the perceived end game is of all these “high level political maneuverings”, and on and on and on. There’s a UFC card on tonight; why haven’t you written anything new in a week?
Ben Askren said:
“I got in MMA for one reason: to see if I could be the best in the world. Actually, he’s doing me a favor if he lets me go to the UFC and test myself. I mean, I wouldn’t be upset that I’m getting paid a bunch of money to beat up guys who aren’t as good as me, but I would like those challenges if it’s possible.”
Two huge things from that:
1) Askren does want to test himself against the best. Can’t say the same for some other fighters in MMA.
2) He confirms how low the overall talent level is in Bellator.
He matched up well against the other guys he fought (mostly non-wrestlers). Bellator could’ve brought in more wrestlers to fight him I guess but they were trying to market him.
For example, Daniel Lima is an outstanding fighter but Askren matched up well against him in one area and was able to beat him.
I think you mean Douglas Lima, but yeah, totally agreed.
I’m surprised anyone is even talking about this since its not about the UFC.
So thats why nothing will come of this, Bjorn wont punish him cause who cares? You get one article on Bloodyelbow, a few threads on the UG and Sherdog, this article. Thats it.
They wont lose sponsor, the culinary union isnt coming after them over it, it wont get any mainstream attention so Bellator is under no pressure to punish him.
UFC has to punish guys now cause of the spotlight on them, being with Fox, the union fucking with them every chance they get. Bellator doesnt have that, most people dont care what goes on in Bellator.
Whats funny is a culinary union employee was asked on twitter about Page and you know what his response was?
That they wont go after Page with Bellator/Viacom because all the things he did that were bad was when he was in the UFC. So he gets a fresh start now that he is with a new company and if he does something now they will go after him/Bellator. Yeah ok.
The UFC’s problems are more directed at Dana White than anything else.
I’d say the UFC’s problems are mostly directed at the Fertittas. If they caved in to the Culinary Union and unionized Station Casinos, most of the UFC’s PR problems would disappear. The Culinary Union would drop their anti-UFC crusade quicker than you can say ‘union dues’.
When Dana White runs his mouth he isn’t doing them any favors.
I couldn’t pick war machine or bjorn out of a lineup. They are about as relevant to mma as backstreet boys are to today’s pop music.
I’d go with LFO or B44 or maybe 98 Degrees if i was being generous, instead (I’m a pop culture guy, what?!). You’re giving Bellator way too much credit!
you know what? you are right. That wasn’t a great analogy on my part. Bellator is as important to mma (and mma fans’ interest) as the plight of Burmese refugees in Thailand is to the average American.
Bellator needs to sign MayheM ASAP.
His R. Kelly routine would fit right in on the Isle of Misfit Toys.
AND IT IS OFFICIAL…
Bellator PPV is going with THREE TITLE FIGHTS!!
Ask the UFC and Strikeforce how that went for them….
Not to mention that they only have 7 titles… 3 of them on the PPV…. And Askren is held up.
This is an act of desperation….
The next seasons ratings are going to be horrible as they chase PPV money…
I am not planning on paying 50 dollars to watch Bellator (or UFC, for that matter), but putting 3 title fights on a show is a good thing. That is what ppv is supposed to be. You are supposed to be paying to watch the best of the best. UFC almost never puts 2 title fights on a card; I think they do that so as to not make the rest of their events seem shittier.
45–why are you bagging on Bellator for putting their best product on ppv? You always say the UFC has too many ppvs and that they are watered down, and here is Bellator putting on a mega show, and you bitch and moan. Be consistent.
It’s a bit of a history lesson. Two companies have done the three title fights on one card and it completely blew up in their faces each time. He is saying, know your history and know that this could backfire on you badly…three is too many when you consider the fact that you could have three 25 minute, 5-round decisions.
The UFC almost never recovered from the UFC 33 disaster – 3 title fights, 3 decisions. I think it was Zuffa’s first ever card and first in NV under the new unified rules and the card ran over time on the ppv and cut out in the middle of Ortiz-Janitor (lucky them in hindsight) and almost ruined Zuffa’s run before it even really started.
Strikeforce stupidly did the same thing on CBS with Strikeforce: Nashville – 3 fights, 3 decisions. The ratings blew, people were turned off by a boring Shields smotherfest of Dan Henderson in the ME and Strikeforce never had another show on CBS. Grant the “Nashville incident” happened on this card and didn’t help things, but this was a real deathknell for Strikeforce after they’d had some good runs on network tv.
Am I missing anything, 45?
Agreed.
I remember UFC 33 (it got cut off at my house before it ended) and the disaster in Nashville. I get the point about 3 title fights specifically, but if you look at my response, I said that UFC doesn’t even do 2 title fights often. My point was not about the possibility that 3 is too many for UFC 33esque reasons, but rather than 45 bashes Bellator no matter what. I was trying to say that Bellator is at least stacking their cards and for that they should be applauded. But yea, I understand the 3 title fight issue. That was not what I was commenting on, but rather 45’s decision to bash everything Bellator does.
The Gaijin is correct. Who knows… It could be a fun PPV to watch. But it is so dangerous to potentially have 3 fights that end up taking over 2 hours of a telecast.
Also… It completely kills the ratings for the next season of Bellator. What fights are left to watch? I am excited about Nunes/PitBull. That is about it.
And I don’t bash Bellator no matter what. I bash bad ideas. And Bellator is in desperation mode and it is beyond obvious.