Bellator sues 'betrayed' Eddie Alvarez, fight future in limbo pending lawsuit...

When Eddie Alvarez fulfilled the final fight on his Bellator contract last October, he did so in impressive fashion by disposing of Patricky Freire in the very first round via knockout.

The performance only raised the lightweight's stock further, making him a very hot commodity Bellator clearly wanted to keep and one Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) obviously wanted on its roster. UFC president Dana White knew obtaining the talents of the former 155-pound champion wouldn't be easy. As a matter of fact, the brash head honcho of the world's leading mixed martial arts (MMA) organization hinted last week that it would get downright "ugly."

Apparently, White was on to something.

After Zuffa finally made an official contract offer to "The Silent Assassin," Bellator proceeded to match it, leaving the next move up the Lorenzo Fertitta and White, which has yet to be made.

In the midst of it all, Eddie himself has remained rather quiet, choosing to lay low and let things play themselves out.

Until now.

Appearing on today's (Jan. 7, 2013) episode of "The MMA Hour," Alvarez revealed negotiations with Bellator took a turn for the worse and the promotion he's called home for the last three years is now suing him after Team Alvarez felt the offer from Bellator was far from a match of the one received from the UFC.

His words:

"Everyone heard that Bellator has matched and what not. It's such a difficult situation. We went to settlement maybe a a couple of days ago. We had a settlement meeting where we were supposed to settle our differences and everything was supposed to get worked out . Long story short, I was sued thirty minutes after our settlement agreement was over. There was some tension in the air and I'm trying not to get too frustrated in the meantime of what's going on"

As far as Bellator matching the contract made by the UFC, Alvarez says the offer was not even close to being equal:

"No we don't believe it was matched at all. I want to give details to you guys, but I'm not allowed because were in the middle of a pending lawsuit I guess. All I can say is, like I said on twitter the other day. If I wanted to go to dinner with one guy, and another guy asked me to dinner. And the intentions of guy number one were to take me to fine dining restaurant to eat lobster and the intentions of the second guy is to take me to McDonald's, then guy number two just believes that dinner is dinner. And dinner isn't dinner. There is a huge difference when talking about MacDonald's and fine dining. The two we don't believe are comparable.

When i signed with Bellator four years ago, I read everything. I'm a man of my word and I'm willing to fulfill every obligation and I did that. I held my end of the bargain, fought every fight they wanted me to fight and the truth is, it's not a match. A match, in my book, a match is if I was to fight for one promotion and got paid ten dollars, then the other promotion would pay me ten dollars. That's not what's going on here. They're going to the media saying it's a match, not even close. The terms are not the same, not even, no, not the same. I don't know what the strategy is here. To us, it's plain and simple. If this goes before anybody, they are going to see pretty much that it is not a match. I'm disappointed. I gave a lot of my life to Bellator, to this promotion, and I've let them know how I feel and I don't get much back in return."

Alvarez also revealed he "liked" the UFC deal and declared it "was a much better deal' than Bellator's and also revealed he isn't quite sure on what grounds Bellator was suing him for. As much as he wanted to reveal details to all the happenings of his current battle, "The Silent Assassin" just couldn't for legal reasons.

He did mention this isn't the first time Bellator has threatened to sue him, just the first they actually followed through.

Following his appearance on The MMA Hour, Alvarez opened himself up for questions via his twitter account, mentioning that he feels "betrayed" by Bjorn Rebney when asked about the situation.

Unfortunately for Eddie, it seems the road back to action will be prolonged a bit further as his fighting future now lies in the hands of the court system.

http://www.mmamania.com/2013/1/7/3846798/eddie-alvarez-bieng-sued-by-bellator

Man I hate all the red tape, technicalities and drama. There are lots of fights for Eddie in the UFC that would be great. Hopefully this issue is resolved swiftly.

Bellator says they matched, he says they didnt, a judge will rule. I dont see at that much drama. UFC has sued TONS of their fighters.

retrocausality wrote:Bellator says they matched, he says they didnt, a judge will rule. I dont see at that much drama. UFC has sued TONS of their fighters.

doesnt stop dana and the zuffa zombies tarnishing the bellator brand before it's begun

I bet they will point the finger and make it out like bellator are evil and wanna fuck over fighters when in fact they have been doing the same for years now

They only interviewed him so he could bash Bellator and make Zuffa look like they pay better. But Bellator's contracts are tough nuts to crack. The fighters need a union.

We need some unified contracts across promotions that dont stop fighters from fighting.

non of this matching shit! and that goes for UFC also.

So the anti Bellator campaign begins..

"Rebney said he got an uneasy feeling when Alvarez came on to the call with six attorneys."

So Zuffa lawyered him up with their Vegas 'boys'.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/1/7/3848340/bjorn-rebney-on-dispute-over-matching-eddie-alvarezs-ufc-offer-we

It all depends on what the contract specifically states regarding "matching" requirements. It could be crystal clear for all we know or it could be filled with holes. There is no way to take sides in this without the contract in front of us.

Right now all we know is UFC made Eddie an offer, Bellator made an offer which they felt they contractually matched, and Eddie refused to sign the contract. Eddie claims the contract is not a match probably due to PPV points and discretionary bonuses based on projections he was probably provided by Zuffa which may or may not be accurate to the tee. They are just estimates. Not sure how he will be compensated for FOX events like the one Bendo just fought on in a title defense since this is not PPV. A lot of gray area shich may be clearly spelled out in the contract. Maybe just base pay has to be matched and the fighter is required to resign. Who knows.

If Bellator is suing they must feel really strong that their contract has it covered clearly (I would guess). In this case Eddie either signs with Bellator or sits out to wait out the matching period if this duration is specified in the contract. If Bellator is suing, who knows, his options may be sign or retire.

When Randy Couture tried to get out of contract requirements, when he had fights remaining under his champions clause, he did not fair too well.

nhbnews wrote:"Rebney said he got an uneasy feeling when Alvarez came on to the call with six attorneys."

So Zuffa lawyered him up with their Vegas 'boys'.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/1/7/3848340/bjorn-rebney-on-dispute-over-matching-eddie-alvarezs-ufc-offer-we

Definitely sounds like it. Bellator needs to come out in the press now as a rebuttal. This matching clause may be clearly spelled out in the contract, if they had a good team write and review the contract. The template fighter contracts for Bellator came from the UFC I believe.

Its all about GREED with Rebney as he needs to realize all he can ever hope to be is a feeder league to the UFC where only the very best of his fighters will probably ever make it to the Big leagues.-by rugerk91

Shady deals and Bjorn Rebney seem to go hand and hand.

by Steve W

wtf ^^^ I try to move on and then every time I read some BS like this im reminded how zuffa ruined mma.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote: Its all about GREED with Rebney as he needs to realize all he can ever hope to be is a feeder league to the UFC where only the very best of his fighters will probably ever make it to the Big leagues.-by rugerk91

Shady deals and Bjorn Rebney seem to go hand and hand.

by Steve W

wtf ^^^ I try to move on and then every time I read some BS like this im reminded how zuffa ruined mma.

Ridiculous comments all over the place on this & all the damn time.

Listen up you pencil neck dweebs

Eddie is not resigning because he wants that PPV money

Bellator offered him exactly what the UFC offered and bellator matched it

now the problem lies with Greedy Eddie and his desire for PPV money at UFC.....

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/1/7/3848724/bjorn-rebney-says-bellator-matched-eddie-alvarezs-ufc-contract-dollar?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

eddie is to blame here! there is no guarentee that he'd be on PPV

so morons saying bjorn is this and that STFU trying to diss bellator when UFC have 100% exact same contracts!

Yea but if he goes to ufc and loses his first fight, he can kiss the ppv% goodbye. He will be on fuel and fx after that. The morons dissing bjorn are form the other forum not here.

stu3ufc wrote:Listen up you pencil neck dweebs

Eddie is not resigning because he wants that PPV money

Bellator offered him exactly what the UFC offered and bellator matched it

now the problem lies with Greedy Eddie and his desire for PPV money at UFC.....

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/1/7/3848724/bjorn-rebney-says-bellator-matched-eddie-alvarezs-ufc-contract-dollar?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

eddie is to blame here! there is no guarentee that he'd be on PPV

so morons saying bjorn is this and that STFU trying to diss bellator when UFC have 100% exact same contracts!

This side of the story does sound more reasonable. Contract probably requires Eddie to stay if an offer is matched so Bellator copy and pasted it to match. Bellator does not have to match what might be if Eddie lands on PPV or if Eddie gets a sub of the night bonus or some other bonus. They can only match the guarantees and it sounds like they have. Chandler vs. Eddie II coming up soon I hope.

PRIDE NEVER DIE wrote:Yea but if he goes to ufc and loses his first fight, he can kiss the ppv% goodbye. He will be on fuel and fx after that. The morons dissing bjorn are form the other forum not here.

im thought so! fans are so dumb! they hear one side of the story and are too ignorant to fact check


but no lets take Dana's word for it

Not sure why you all have such a hard on for Bjorn. Rebney is known for being a shady piece of sh*t from his boxing days. He isn't any better than Dana, so don't pretend he's faultless.

doubledx2c wrote:Not sure why you all have such a hard on for Bjorn. Rebney is known for being a shady piece of sh*t from his boxing days. He isn't any better than Dana, so don't pretend he's faultless.

We have a winner.

I know Dana put himself out as a complete asshole but don't think other promotions head guys aren't all scum bags just because of Dana hate.

"Bjorn Rebney is going to make Don King look like a choirboy," Jack Mesi said. "Everything Leonard and Rebney touch has turned to crap. They've been sued from coast to coast, by fighters, managers and venues."

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/staba85.html

I´m sure Lorenzo had a personal meeting with Eddie like he had with the Reem when Reem left Glory.

It is also largely Zuffa's fault since they won't put their discretionary bonuses as guarantees in writing.

nhbnews wrote:It is also largely Zuffa's fault since they won't put their discretionary bonuses as guarantees in writing.

Yup, all strategy. Can't match discretionary bonuses and PPV points without a set figure to match. Zuffa trys to keep these figures pretty secret too.

I think it is pretty clear that Eddie is contractually obligated to sign with Bellator if they matched the offer exactly like they said. We shall see.

When Randy wants a single cross-promotional fight against the world's best HW though, Zuffa stands firm to his contractual champions clause. When the shoe is on the other foot regarding contract requirements, fire up the proganda machine and shroud Eddie with lawyers.