Former Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez will be going to battle with the promotion he once called home this coming Friday. As reported, Bellator engaged the Blackzilians fighter in a legal battle after matching the contract offered to Alvarez by the UFC. According to the Philadelphia native, Bellator’s counteroffer was not a true match to Zuffa’s, who offered him the chance to compete on Fox and Pay Per-View percentage bonuses, neither of which Bellator can truly match. The UFC then sweetened the pot, upping their offer to Alvarez to include a $250k signing bonus and $70k per-fight with potential mirrored win bonus.
Recent reports also suggest that Alvarez has been offered a bout at UFC 159.
MMA Payout has the details:
According to Court papers filed in [the federal US District Court for the District of New Jersey] by Alvarez’s attorney, Zuffa will not promote or contract with Alvarez until it has Court permission. It has to do so within 90 days of the event. Thus, the deadline is January 27th (the hearing is set for Friday the 25th since the 27th is Sunday).
The hearing is to show cause as to “why Bellator should not be restrained from interfering with Alvarez’s prospective contract with Zuffa and why Alvarez should not be permitted to contract with Zuffa, so that he may participate in Zuffa’s April 27, 2013 event.
As in all preliminary injunctions, the threshold Alvarez’s attorneys must prove for the Court to grant the preliminary junction is:
1) the likelihood of success on the merits;
2) that Alvarez will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is denied;
3) who between Bellator and Alvarez would suffer the most harm after comparing/balancing;
4) that the public interest favors such relief.
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So what is the most likely outcome of this?
It’s likely that the court will rule in favor of Bellator and say the 159 bout agreement is a new offer, but it may be a hollow victory. Bellator will then have to show that they can match the value of the offer. Considering 159′s main event, the realistic projections of value will rise considerably. Bellator may try to find some way to match the value, but may hurt themselves in doing so. If they cannot match, or decide not to, he can become a member of the UFC. Bellator is a bit more desperate right now though, after Chandler just annihilated arguably the second best lightweight in the promotion. So they may go big here.
Maybe I’m confused, or something doesn’t sound right…or both. But it seems that realistically, nobody is capable of matching a UFC offer period, for the simple fact that there is more monetary value in a placement on a UFC card, and what that placement will do for the fighter, than there is on a Bellator card…or any other card outside the UFC for that matter…..simply because the UFC is the big dog on the MMA porch, and can offer more in financial opportunity, even if it isn’t in a fight purse or length of contract with the company.
From the way that article reads, and from what Chris says, it appears that “matching” goes beyond simply how much the fighters get paid, and extends to include the value of the placement on a card and whatever estimated financial opportunity might bring.
Do I have that wrong??
Nope, that’s about it, and it’s pretty much the basis of Ed’s entire argument against going back to Bellator.
@Jason matching is strictly in a compensation basis, courts don’t care whether it’s UFC or Bellator. They can only determine the value of the two contracts based on the monetary worth of each deal. So if the deals are equal in the amount of monetary compensation, then he stays with Bellator. Whether the real numbers work out that way is for the courts to decide.
Well then it should be pretty cut and dry…..”should” being the key word. I’m sure Alverez’s legal team were given all the necessary loopholes to defeat this by Zuffa…
“Compensation” being monetary value per fight (how much the purse is) and length of contract. Hypothetical bonuses, sponsorships, PPV cuts, etc. are not factored in.
@bsbiz PPV cuts will be factored in here with an actual offer for a PPV fight on the table, previously they would not have been considered.