Photo via Sherdog.com
A rematch between current Bellator lightweight champ Eddie ‘The Silent Assassin’ Alvarez (22-2) and DREAM champ Shinya Aoki (29-5, 1NC) is very close to being a reality.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com recently, telling them that the only obstacle in Alvarez’ path is his upcoming title defense against Mike Chandler later this month at Bellator 58.
“To be completely honest, Ed (Alvarez) has got his hands full against Mike Chandler. Mike Chandler is an absolute freak of nature in terms of his wrestling. His stand-up has really come around. Chandler’s a beast,” said Rebney.
“Ed’s completely focused. He’s 110-percent as good as he’s ever been. So we’ll see what happens in that fight. That is going to be a wickedly difficult fight for both of those guys.”
“If Ed wins that fight then we would look at doing the Aoki fight probably February sometime,” Rebney revealed. “An early February date, cause Ed’s fight’s going to happen right around Thanksgiving, and then you want at least a couple of months. You want at least a couple of months before you jump in there with one of the best lightweights in the world.”
Alvarez and Aoki first met back at the Dynamite!! 2008 event in Japan. Aoki would end the fight quickly after catching Alvarez with a heel hook submission at 1:32 of the first round.
Since that time Alvarez has gone on to join Bellator winning seven straight, including the Bellator lightweight championship. This bout with Chandler marks the Bellator champs second straight title defense having beaten Pat Curran in April.
For Aoki, the DREAM champ has gone 10-2 since that bout in December 2008. Aoki is currently riding a six-bout win streak himself, recovering from a unanimous decision loss to Gilbert Melendez in April 2010.