  We find that the formation of MWC 656 (the first Be binary containing a black
hole) involves a common envelope phase and a supernova explosion. This result
supports the idea that a rapidly rotating Be star can emerge out of a common
envelope phase, which is very intriguing because this evolutionary stage is
thought to be too fast to lead to significant accretion and spin up of the B
star.
  We predict $\sim 10-100$ of B BH binaries to currently reside in the Galactic
disk, among which around $1/3$ contain a Be star, but there is only a small
chance to observe a system with parameters resembling MWC 656. If MWC 656 is
representative of intrinsic Galactic Be BH binary population, it may indicate
that standard evolutionary theory needs to be revised. This would pose another
evolutionary problem in understanding BH binaries, with BH X-ray Novae
formation issue being the prime example.
  The future evolution of MWC 656 with a $\sim 5$ M$_{\odot}$ black hole and
with a $\sim 13$ M$_{\odot}$ main sequence companion on a $\sim 60$ day orbit
may lead to the formation of a coalescing BH-NS system. The estimated Advanced
LIGO/Virgo detection rate of such systems is up to $\sim 0.2$ yr$^{-1}$. This
empirical estimate is a lower limit as it is obtained with only one particular
evolutionary scenario, the MWC 656 binary. This is only a third such estimate
available (after Cyg X-1 and Cyg X-3), and it lends additional support to the
existence of so far undetected BH--NS binaries.
