If Eddie Alvarez does end up signing with Bellator, Michael Chandler would be looking to settle the score between them.
Since Eddie Alvarez became a free agent after his rematch with Dustin Poirier at UFC on Fox 30, a few possibilities have opened up. One of them is a return to Bellator, which company CEO Scott Coker himself had opened up.
If Alvarez does end up being back to the promotion where he held the 155-pound title twice, another former opponent of his will be looking forward to have him back.
According to fellow former champion Michael Chandler, having “The Underground King” back in Bellator would allow him to even the score from their two previous fights that drew attention.
“I have a ton of respect for him as a fighter, and I just want to see the best for him,” Chandler said in a recent interview with MMAjunkie. “If that means staying with the UFC, I hope he stays in the UFC. If that means coming to Bellator, I would love to welcome him to Bellator and finish that trilogy.”
“There’s not a day that’s gone by recently since he announced that this last fight was the last fight on his contract, that people haven’t stopped talking about the trilogy.”
Chandler, whose own Bellator contract is close to expiration, made it clear that his intent to face Alvarez for a third is simply to prove that he is the better fighter, as he maintains a high level of respect for the one-time UFC champion.
“When you share 50 minutes inside a cage – I’ve got a scar on my lip that he gave me, I’ve got another scar on my eyebrow that he gave me,” Chandler said. “I could look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘That’s from that guy, that’s from that guy.’ Eddie put it on me here and there.”
“Being 1-1, me finishing him the first fight, him beating me in the second fight; Eddie’s just a warrior. He’s been Bellator champion, he’s been UFC champion. He’s been champion in every major organization in the entire world.”
The first time the two men fought was at Bellator 58 in 2011, where Alvarez lost via fourth-round submission, subsequently dropping the title. He was able to avenge that loss via split decision at Bellator 106 in 2013, where he also regained the Bellator 155-pound title.