Eddie Alvarez Being Sued By Bellator, Says Counter-Offer Unequal To UFC Contract

Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie ‘The Silent Assassin’ Alvarez (24-3) completed his contract with the Chicago based promotion last October when he picked up a first round knockout win over Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire at Bellator 76.

With that win Alvarez was able to entertain contract offers from other promotions, including the Ultimate Fighting Championship

The UFC made their offer and Bellator made their counter-offer, but according to Alvarez the two contracts were vastly different and because he didn’t resign with Bellator he is now being sued by his former promotion.

Alvarez was a guest on The MMA Hour (@MMAFighting.com) earlier today to speak about the contract negotiations.

“We went to settlement maybe a couple days ago,” Alvarez said. “We had a settlement meeting to where we were supposed to settle our differences and everything was supposed to get worked out. Long story short, I was sued 30 minutes after our settlement agreement was over…. ”

“If it was a match, I would be more than happy to honor the contract,” Alvarez said. “I signed that contract, I have to fulfill my obligations, it’s what I signed, I’m a man. I have no problems. If it was a match, if this was a hundred percent match, I’d have no problem going and fighting for Bellator. That is not my issue. Do I want to fight the best in the world? Yeah. Would I love to fight the Ben Hendersons? Yeah. The Gilbert Melendezes? Yeah. I’ll fight them tomorrow.

“I’ve always wanted to fight the best guys. That’s not the issue. The issue has to do with being fair. If the contract said at the end we have a chance to match this contract, I said OK to that four years ago and I’m accountable for that. In our eyes, this is not a match. This a difference is a lot of money, a lot of money, and its hard to sign on the dotted line. It’s a lot of money.”

Alvarez is 9-1 over his last ten bouts, all but one of which was under the Bellator banner. ‘The Silent Assassin’ won the Bellator lightweight title back in June 2009 and successfully defended the belt in April 2011 against Pat Curran. Alvarez was finally beaten, losing by submission to current champ Michael Chandler in a 2011 “Fight of the Year” candidate at Bellator 58. Alvarez would bounce back by winning a rematch with Shinya Aoki last April and then by earning his first round knockout against Freire at Bellator 76.