(As part of their co-promotional agreement with Viacom, Alvarez and Chandler will also appear in a tag-team match against the Nasty Boys. / Photo via Getty)
MMA’s most public and nasty legal battle since the UFC vs. Randy Couture has reached a thankful conclusion. MMAJunkie’s John Morgan breaks the news that former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has settled his contract dispute with Bellator, and will compete in a title-fight rematch against Michael Chandler at the promotion’s “Rampage vs. Otiz” pay-per-view, November 2nd at the Long Beach Arena.
Maybe it’s not the best-case scenario for Eddie, but at least he’ll be competing and earning money again, for the first time since last October. As he explained to MMAJunkie:
“I couldn’t be happier right now. We’ve been trying to settle since the very beginning of this. [Ed. note: O RLY?] We were able to compromise and put it behind us. I’m happy to put my name on the dotted line and move forward with my career…I’m not big on problems. I normally just deal with solutions. In business, there are problems just like a relationship. There’s good, there’s bad, and there’s ugly. You need to be able to compromise and not deal with problems.”
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney wouldn’t disclose terms of the settlement, but stated that his promotion was able to find “a common ground” with Alvarez. Rebney also mentioned that there will be more big-name additions to the 11/2 card.
And so, Bellator’s first pay-per-view gets a pay-per-view-caliber fight, and Eddie Alvarez likely ends up with a new contract that was considerably better than his old one. (Competition is never a bad thing in the fight game.) But can Alvarez stay competitive in the rematch, after a year-long layoff? Check out video of Alvarez vs. Chandler 1 after the jump, and let us know what you think…
(Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler, Bellator 58, 11/19/11)