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No UFC buyout for them…

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebeny spoke last night about Bellator and the UFC's just-announced purchase of Strikeforce. Check out the highlights:

On whether he sees anyone buoying out Bellator: "No. My answer to that is based on our entire philosophy. It's one where fighters control their own destiny. The organization that puts the cage down and puts up the lights, and puts all the cameras together and puts on the show on MTV, has the same exact philosophy of the fighters who step into the cage. I am a big fan of controlling one's own destiny. It's what got me to this point. ... It's that type of control of controlling your destiny that is everything our organization is about. It's our very, very core."

On whether any cut Strikeforce fighters will end up in Bellator: "Our team has done an amazing job securing immensely talented fighters, so we'll see. "The great thing about Bellator is that a fighter's performance really and honestly dictates things. I don't want to be repetitive, but that's what really controls it. If there's a great fighter, and he's available, and it makes sense, and he'd like to be in Bellator and on MTV2, and we'd like him to participate for us ... absolutely we'd be interested."

On any potential fighters getting special treatment: "There's no potential way for someone ... to come over here, no matter how good they are, and get a title shot. You'd never see a situation in Bellator like with what happened with Dan Henderson, where he was brought over (to Strikeforce) and through a matchmaking formula be given a title shot. Under no circumstance would we make that exception. Paul Daley or anyone else from Strikeforce or anyone else's roster, they'd have to go through the same exact process Eddie Alvarez and other fighter have gone through."

On whether the Strikeforce purchase is good for MMA "I think time will tell whether it's good or bad overall for the industry. Competition is good for the industry. ... Competition ultimately breeds the best. ... It's always good to have alternatives and competition, especially in a space growing as quickly as the mixed-martial-arts space is. Ultimately, only time will tell if it was a good thing for the industry."