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During the Bellator 33 post-fight press conference, both Bellator lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, placed the blame of failing to put together a fight against Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez, at the feet of Strikeforce and it’s CEO Scott Coker.
Alvarez earned his 21st victory against UFC vet Roger Huerta in last nights main event, dominating the fight and earning a TKO win via doctor stoppage. Alvarez kicked Huerta so hard in the first round that it buckled the former UFC fighter forcing him to fight southpaw. After the second round the doctor stepped in to end the fight.
Alvarez will now push harder for a chance to face Melendez in the future, as he wants to prove his standing among the worlds lightweight fighters. It’s a fight that even Melendez has said he wants.
“Scott Coker doesn’t want it to happen. He’s trying to obviously protect his champion…I want to be number one in the world, and the only way to do that is to fight people like Gilbert…But until then, it’s just talk. The paper’s gotta be signed. Let’s make it happen.”
Bellator CEO Rebney even offered to hold the fight on Showtime in Strikeforce’s home base in San Jose.
“What television network is it going to be on? We’ll do it on Showtime. Where will the fight happen? Well, let’s do it in San Jose. The answers to the questions are very simple. There’s no reason that fight shouldn’t happen but for the fact that the promoter of Gilbert Melendez doesn’t want it to occur.”
HT: Sherdog.com for the Alvarez and Rebney transcriptions.
The rest of the Bellator 33 post-fight press conference after the jum
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