Chael Sonnen reportedly Viacom’s original choice to replace Bjorn Rebney as president of Bellator MMA

Jun 20, 2014, 8:00 PM Updated: 8:00 pm

A few weeks ago UFC President Dana White made waves when he revealed the newly retired Chael Sonnen could potentially be the man to replace him as the headman of the world’s biggest MMA promotion.

However on Wednesday MMA Twitter Celebrity FrontRowBrian dropped a bombshell and revealed that Viacom approached Sonnen with the possibility of taking over rival promotion, Bellator MMA.

Here's a bombshell. Viacom approached @sonnench & asked him to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding becoming Bellator President.

— FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian) June 19, 2014

Chael refused to sign confidentiality agreement &talks broke off there. President Coker could have been Prez Sonnen. Too loyal to UFC tho

— FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian) June 19, 2014

From Chael's perspective, came down to loyalty &he knows, in due time, his job title at Zuffa won't be broadcaster 4 long. Being groomed

— FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian) June 19, 2014

This revelation comes just days after it was announced Bjorn Rebney would be parting ways with Bellator, the company he founded back in 2007. Viacom would eventually name former Strikeforce president Scott Coker as Rebney’s replacement.

While FrontRowBrian did not reveal his sources, Sonnen himself more or less confirmed the rumors with the following tweet: