Dana White & Bjorn Rebney Trade Barbs On Twitter, Explain Recent Comments

The Bellator promotion has ushered itself in as America’s second leading Mixed Martial Arts promotion.

In what many consider a distant second place behind the UFC, Bellator has secured a slot on Spike TV, acquired some of the UFC’s most recognizable faces and has made a valiant push towards becoming a competitor in the space predominately occupied by its rival promotion, The Ultimate Fighting Championship.

And with all great rivalries, comes a bit of trash talk back and forth, usually an exchange the Bellator boss, Bjorn Rebney stays out of.

But not today folks, not today at all. In fact, the opposite has taken place, check it out:

@danawhite If Fight of the Year & 10 times better ratings than you did on your last televised show is Karma, bring me another plate.

— Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) November 5, 2013

And it’s true, the UFC has found struggles in the Fox Sports 1 broadcasting platform, all while the Bellator promotion is resurrecting the Spike TV audience, one show at a time.

But there are other factors at play here and it’s easy for Rebney to take a cheap shot at White, who is trying to build an entire television network on the backing of his fight promotion, instead of the polar opposite, which in Bellator’s case is building a fight promotion on the backing of a television network.

The two company front-men also cleared up recent events while recently posting on twitter.

For Bjorn it was his now famous head shake many thought to be a direct blast at Eddie Alvarez. Instead Rebney answered fans with the following,

@dredgXIX Yep, shook my head because I couldn't believe people booed that fight decision. Incredible display of skill & courage by both men

— Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) November 5, 2013

And while the Bellator boss is explaining his questionable actions away, the UFC boss also released a statement about his ‘Karma Text.’

Via Sportsnet UFC Central:

“I have no comment on that. When I sent that karma text, everybody knows what I was talking about. He tried to f–k this kid, and then he loses. What was he shaking his head about if he was so f–king pumped about his evening? If his evening was that wonderful and he was so pumped about it, why was he back there shaking his head and looked like he wanted to f–king kill himself?”

It is unclear what the future holds for this budding rivalry amongst promoters, I am however very interested in the sudden confidence from the Bellator boss and his seemingly new attitude to engage with Dana White publicly through social media.

It could wind up a disaster for him, or if White feeds into it, it may very well be the best thing to happen to America’s second place MMA promotion.