It would seem that Dana White was not exaggerating when he said the Eddie Alvarez situation was “going to get ugly.”
It’s no secret that Alvarez was frustrated by the news that Bellator had matched the UFC’s offer, but according to the former champion, he has further reason to be upset as he is now being sued by the promotion that he once called home.
Due to his current legal situation, The Blackzilians fighter was forced to remain mum as to the exact details, but according to Alvarez, the contract offered by Bellator was not a true match.
“It’s like two of your friends want to take you out to dinner, but one wants to take you out for lobster and the other wants to take you to McDonalds,” the Philadelphia native told Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour”. Alvarez continued with that analogy by stating that Bellator’s deal would not be as financially viable for him as the UFC’s.
The future of Alvarez now remains uncertain for all parties involved, especially for Eddie, himself.
Bellator has yet to release a statement on Alvarez’s comments as of this writing.
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UFC please get him!
Why doesn’t Dana buy him out of Bellator?
Because Alvarez isn’t worth that sort of investment. In addition to paying Bellator to go away on this matter, they UFC will be stuck with their higher-than-needed contract offer.
And Alvarez, quite simply, isn’t worth that.
We have all seen what happens to other organizations that try and take on Dana.BYE BYE Bellator.
Those other organizations didn’t have Viacom behind them. Good chance Bellator is around for a long, long time.
Also, it should be noted that Viacom outbid the UFC for Bellator…
What? I had no idea the UFC tried to acquire Bellator.
Happened right before Viacom purchased Bellator. They were for secretly for sale for awhile and Zuffa was in the running.
Yeah, seems like it was longer ago than it really was, but most people didn’t even know they made an offer. Ironically, they were pretty much trying to buy them just for Lombard and Alvarez.
Eddie should be happy staying with Bellator. If he is smart and think for the long term then he should stay with Bellator. It’s way better be one of the biggest fishes in the smaller pond than being a decent size fish in a big ocean. Sure, he can made more money in the UFC but his opponents also a lot more dangerous. It’s better to stay with Bellator and keep winning fights than go to UFC and risk losing fights. He should know his odd of winning fight in Bellator is much higher than in UFC. Eddie should sign the contract with Bellator to end all the court battle.
You obviously don’t have the mind and spirit of a competitor. And I don’t mean to sound mean, but that’s why these guys fight… to be the best. To prove to the fans and themselves that they’re the best fighter in the world.
Staying in Bellator just to be a big fish in a small pond, would be a cowardice move on his part. You can’tcall yourself the best lightweight in the world if you’re unwilling to fight the best in the world.
was it not Alvarez who said he’d fight for whover paid him the most money?
@Chromie – I honestly don’t know if he said that or not If he did, however, he could have been presumptuous in assuming that the UFC would be able to, and would, pay him more. Thats his misake if that’s what he tought, but like I said, I dont know if he said that or not.
I don’t follow Alvarez that closely, but I’ll believe you if you said he did.
“If anybody judges me or tells me I’m wrong because of that, I’m sorry. I have a different situation than maybe whoever’s judging me, but my services are going 100-percent to the highest bidder.” Eddie Alvarez
from cagedinsider.com
god if we all felt like that we would be still living in caves
good for BELLATOR…
Alvarez, as much as I want to see him in UFC, he also agreed to the contract that he signed with BELLATOR giving them the option to match any offer from any organization.
BELLATOR will be around for a long time, becase 1. they have VIACOM backing them & 2. they are sticking to a good model of developing and scouting up and coming talent.
Im just curious why Eddie cant decide where he wants to go regardless of Bellator matching the contract or not. Bellator isnt going anywhere, but I just dont get it. Is it because he said they could match it? Does that mean he had to sign with them? Im confused.
It’s restricted free agency, only way he can leave Bellator is if they refuse to match an offer. Otherwise he’s Bellator bound.
[speculation on my part]
At this point it is a contract battle fought on spirit vs letter. It seems, just from perusing websites, that Bellator only had to match the guaranteed money the UFC is offering to consider their offer a “match.”
Eddie, however, like most of us would, is looking at the non-guaranteed incentive pay, i.e. ppv dollars, as a part of the overall value of the contract. So it seems it boils down to 1. what is the contract definition of ‘matching offer’ and 2. did Bellator comply with those stipulations?
If the contract language states that Bellator only had to match the guaranteed money and they did that, Eddie’s only chance is to make an argument on the ‘spirit’ of the language in that additional incentives have a value, albeit not guaranteed, and should be considered.
In arbitration, they could decide to assign a value to the incentives and see if Bellator is willing to add that to the pot. Otherwise it may have to go to court.