Bellator Fighting Championships has a set format for crowning it’s champions, come out the victor in an eight man tournament and then defeat the title holder to take the belt.
What happens though, to those fighters who lose in the title bouts when it’s been a very close match.
Well if your fighters like Alexander Shlemenko and Pat Curran you try your hand in the next available tournament. But if your someone like former lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez or Season Four welterweight tourny winner Jay Hieron, stepping back in on the ground level isn’t an option they are willing to entertain.
This is where the cracks start to appear in Bellator’s tournament format when you have one of the faces of the promotion in Eddie Alvarez who refuses to re-enter the next seasons tournament following a title loss to Michael Chandler, then you have Jay Hieron who feels he beat Ben Askren for the welterweight title despite a controversial loss and feels he should be given an immediate rematch.
Alvarez talked to MMAWeekly Radio this past weekend offering his reasons why he feels he shouldn’t have to work his way back to the top when he’s already established himself in the division
“I’m definitely not happy with the decision of putting me back into the tournament and having me do all that. I feel like if I went out and I fought Mike Chandler and he just completely dominated, I could understand them saying, ‘alright go back to the tournament, go back to the drawing board, and work your way up.’ I sort of look at it like you work your way up the corporate ladder and you show up 15 minutes late for work one day and you drove me back to the mail room.”
From some of the talk on the internet that I’ve read, there are some rumors floating about that Alvarez is being offered a lot less money then he was as champion. There are certainly several ways of looking at this from Alvarez point as he is either negotiating for better money instead of tournament starter money, a direct shot at recapturing his belt without entering the tournament, or he’s trying to get out of his contract in order to join the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Any way you put it though, this appears to be the tip of the iceberg for Bellator who will certainly see other fighters refuse to re-enter the next seasons tournament. Which could be a boon for the UFC as some of the top talent may simply move over to sign with Zuffa instead of entering back at the bottom of the heap.
Does anyone think Bellator middleweight champ Hector Lombard would be happy to re-enter next seasons middleweight tournament following a loss for a lot less money? I think barring some strong concessions from Bellator that if they failed to re-sign him, Lombard would bolt for the Octagon in a heartbeat.