Bellator Fighting Championships has been waiting since late 2011 to make their debut on Spike TV. Next Thursday, it’s finally happening. CEO Bjorn Rebney is excited, if not a little anxious. “It was probably a longer time than some of us want…
Bellator Fighting Championships has been waiting since late 2011 to make their debut on Spike TV. Next Thursday, it’s finally happening.
CEO Bjorn Rebney is excited, if not a little anxious.
“It was probably a longer time than some of us wanted,” Rebney said at a media conference call, at which Bleacher Report was present.
However, Rebney saw the silver lining in the contractually obligated MTV2 clouds that kept his promotion away from Spike TV in 2012. “Just a lot of time to prep, a lot of time to get ready, a lot of time to do it right. What you’re gonna see next Thursday night on Spike at 10:00 is the best of what we have,” he said.
Rebney is referring to several things when he says “best of what we have.” There are, of course, the fights and fighters. There are two title fights on the card. Michael Chandler will defend his lightweight title against Rick Hawn, while Pat Curran will attempt to keep his featherweight title from the hands of Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
However, there’s also the rarely-thought-of back end of an MMA television production. It’s there that Spike TV is making a huge difference, according to Rebney.
“It is a different looking show,” said Rebney.
Bellator‘s Spike TV debut will display “a really great television production in terms of everything from graphics, to sound, to production enhancements we’ve been going through over the last couple of months,” he said.
“It’ll be in HD everywhere across the country that you want to watch it, in 100 million homes…The difference between SD and HD is night and day,” he said.
But clearer, brighter production values aren’t all the Spike TV debut promises to deliver. Rebney was sure to note this, saying that Bellator on Spike TV would have “a new graphics package, new opens, and new feature pieces that we’re shooting with home follows where we’ve been going into the gym with Rick [Hawn] and going into the Gym with Pat [Curran] and Mike [Chandler] and Patricio [Freire] etc.”
Gone are the days of Bellator‘s dark, dreary production values that made you feel like you were watching a fight going on in some dingy, bush-league venue.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Spike TV has had an impact for Bellator in that area as well.
“When you have a partner like Spike, it opens up a lot of doors,” Rebney said. “But with the Spike alliance, from a sponsorship perspective, from a casino perspective, from a venue perspective, international and on and on, It’s opened up door after door after door…it’s opened up a lot of opportunities for us at bigger venues in more prolific areas.”
Rebney elaborated:
It’s really about fights and it’s about the push and it’s about the branding that opens up those doors. Also it’s the 10:00 start. Look at the events we’re talking about, Albuquerque, Dallas, the greater southern California market. Those were not available opportunities to us when we had an 8:00 start, because for the west coast you’re talking about a 5:00 live to TV. And on a weeknight on a Thursday night, that wouldn’t fly. Now with a 10:00 start coming off of [TNA Impact Wrestling], you’ve got a 7:00 live to TV on the west coast. So it works perfectly for us. It’s opened up doors to us in hotbeds of mixed martial arts. It’s opened up a lot of doors to us that weren’t open in the past based on timing and based on the Spike partnership that we got.
The MMA world has less than a week to see if his talk has any substance to it. Rebney himself, however, is practically giddy thinking about the event.
“We have done 84 events over the last four years and I can tell you with all truth and sincerity I’ve never been more excited about sitting cageside than I am for next Thursday’s premier event on Spike,” he said.
Bellator 85—their inaugural event on Spike TV—will take place on January 17th. It is headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Mike Chandler and challenger Rick Hawn. The Bellator featherweight title will also be contested when champion Pat Curran meets Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
On Thursday night, Bellator provides fight fans with their first offering of 2013. Bellator 85, the inaugural event for Spike TV, features lightweight champion Michael Chandler taking on Olympic judo fighter Rick Hawn in the main event.Since dropping t…
On Thursday night, Bellator provides fight fans with their first offering of 2013. Bellator 85, the inaugural event for Spike TV, features lightweight champion Michael Chandler taking on Olympic judo fighter Rick Hawn in the main event.
Since dropping to lightweight, Hawn has delivered two tremendous knockouts. In addition, Chandler followed up a 2011 Fight of the Year performance by quickly and violently dispatching Japanese icon AkihiroGono.
Needless to say, with these sort of performances in their rear-view mirror, the expectation for excitement in this fight is pretty high.
At Friday’s pre-fight teleconference, Hawn seemed more interested in talking about the in-cage fireworks than about the title he can potentially win in less than one week.
“You’ve got two good grapplers: two good strikers, two explosive fighters. This fight could go anywhere. It has potential to be a five-round brawl or it could be over quick. It has potential to live up to the Alvarez/Chandler fight.
The Alvarez/Chandler fight that was mentioned during the press conference is a reference to the 2011 Fight of the Year, which took place at Bellator 58. Without any exaggeration, the fight was an epic battle of will that should be seen as a shining reminder that elite competition does exist outside of the UFC.
After four rounds of intense action, the undefeated Chandler emerged victorious by securing a rear-naked choke against his world-ranked opponent.
If Hawn thinks that he and Chandler can recapture that magic, then fans should be showing up in droves to watch Bellator 85’s hotly anticipated main event.
For more analysis on all things Bellator, stay tuned to Bleacher Report MMA.
Andrew Saunders is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
Pat Curran may have won two tournaments while fighting for Bellator; however, that doesn’t mean that the reigning featherweight champion has any interest in going for a hat trick.As part of the move to Spike TV, Bellator president Bjorn Rebney has also…
Pat Curran may have won two tournaments while fighting for Bellator; however, that doesn’t mean that the reigning featherweight champion has any interest in going for a hat trick.
As part of the move to Spike TV, Bellator president Bjorn Rebney has also added in a new policy which will allow him to schedule rematches for any title bout that is deemed worthy of a second meeting.
During Friday’s teleconference to promote Bellator 85, Curran was asked about the new policy and whether or not he supported it:
It’s great. Especially for a champion, if you do lose, you have that opportunity to take a second fight and redeem yourself. Coming out of two tournaments…I don’t want to ever fight in a tournament again.
With top stars from the company unwilling to enter the gauntlet once again, Rebney was right to remove such a booking limitation.
Curran won Bellator‘s Season 2 lightweight tournament but was unsuccessful in dethroning champion Alvarez for the belt. Based on the organizational structuring, Curran needed to win another tournament before he would be granted a second chance at picking up gold.
In 2011, Curran dropped to featherweight and picked up his second tournament victory. Not taking his second chance for granted, “Paddy Mike” unleashed a brutal combo of strikes that repeatedly knocked out champion Joe Warren.
However, who could blame Curran for not wanting to start from scratch? As the most marketable competitor in the featherweight division, heading back to the drawing board isn’t a desirable outcome by any means.
Ultimately, this could prove to be a moot point, as Curran certainly doesn’t plan on losing his belt anytime soon. Heading into his first title defense against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Curran has great expectations following an excellent training camp.
The bout with Pitbull will kick off the main card of Bellator 85, which airs live on Spike TV on Thursday, January 17 at 10pm.
The champion doesn’t take any offense at being booked in the first fight on the card. In fact, he is flattered by the faith that Rebney has displayed by putting him in the first Bellator bout to ever air on their new network:
I’m looking to start the year off right and have fireworks with Pitbull. I want to put on the best performances of my life and please the crowd. I want to keep amazing people.
Fireworks will be on full display at the event, as Curran and Freire are two of the most exciting featherweights on the planet, sharing 11 knockouts and 23 finishes between them.
For more analysis on all things Bellator, stay tuned to Bleacher Report MMA.
Andrew Saunders is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
There have been many landmark events in MMA history — the inception of the UFC in 1993, the debut of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005, the fall of PRIDE in 2007, and the acquisition of Strikeforce in 2011. As 2013 gets underway, it’s already becoming apparent that the sport is undergoing a series of events that will change it forever.
THE DISSOLUTION OF STRIKEFORCE
On March 12, 2011, Zuffa acquired Strikeforce. Although the San Jose-based promotion was subsequently stripped of many of its best fighters, television network Showtime opted to renew their broadcast deal with the promotion — until now. The January 13, 2013 show headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine will be the promotion’s death knell, as the name “Strikeforce” takes its final resting place in the cemetery next to Affliction, WEC, PRIDE, Elite XC, BodogFight, and the IFL.
There were obvious benefits in Zuffa stringing Showtime along as a broadcast partner of the increasingly-diluted Strikeforce brand: It kept Showtime from seeking a new promoter, independent of Zuffa, to partner with. Currently, promotions like Shark Fights, Legacy Fighting Championship, Invicta FC, and Xtreme Fighting Championships are in the running as potential broadcast partners for Showtime. For the winning promotion(s), mainstream television exposure on CBS might also be possible, just as CBS aired Strikeforce events in the past.
However, no matter which promotion Showtime airs, the most significant component of the deal comes down to what brand-name fighters can be acquired to get better ratings and more subscribers for Showtime.
THE RISE OF BELLATOR
(Do women in the UFC represent a new path to the future, or business as usual? Photo via Esther Lin/MMAFighting)
There have been many landmark events in MMA history — the inception of the UFC in 1993, the debut of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005, the fall of PRIDE in 2007, and the acquisition of Strikeforce in 2011. As 2013 gets underway, it’s already becoming apparent that the sport is undergoing a series of events that will change it forever.
THE DISSOLUTION OF STRIKEFORCE
On March 12, 2011, Zuffa acquired Strikeforce. Although the San Jose-based promotion was subsequently stripped of many of its best fighters, television network Showtime opted to renew their broadcast deal with the promotion — until now. The January 13, 2013 show headlined by Nate Marquardt vs. Tarec Saffiedine will be the promotion’s death knell, as the name “Strikeforce” takes its final resting place in the cemetery next to Affliction, WEC, PRIDE, Elite XC, BodogFight, and the IFL.
There were obvious benefits in Zuffa stringing Showtime along as a broadcast partner of the increasingly-diluted Strikeforce brand: It kept Showtime from seeking a new promoter, independent of Zuffa, to partner with. Currently, promotions like Shark Fights, Legacy Fighting Championship, Invicta FC, and Xtreme Fighting Championships are in the running as potential broadcast partners for Showtime. For the winning promotion(s), mainstream television exposure on CBS might also be possible, just as CBS aired Strikeforce events in the past.
However, no matter which promotion Showtime airs, the most significant component of the deal comes down to what brand-name fighters can be acquired to get better ratings and more subscribers for Showtime.
THE RISE OF BELLATOR
Free of any contractual obligations to Zuffa, Spike TV is now free to air Bellator on the network, which they’ll begin doing next week. With its tournament-style format, a planned reality show, recruitment of new talent, and investment from media conglomerate Viacom, it seems that fortunes may change for Bellator in 2013.
Most importantly of all, Spike TV used to be the home of the UFC. Since Spike has been airing the back-library of the UFC for the last year, Bellator can take advantage of brand confusion and piggy-back off of the UFC’s former audience.
THE VALUE OF FREE AGENTS IN MMA
Former Bellator fighter Hector Lombard was bought by the UFC with a rumored price-tag that included a $400,000 signing bonus, a $300,000 purse per fight, and per-per-view participation points. Bellator fighter Eddie Alvarez is reputed to have been offered a UFC contract with a $250,000 signing bonus, $70,000 to show and $70,000 to win, as well as pay-per-view points and a vague promise thrown in about an intended title shot.
How does this compare to the typical pay scale in the UFC? UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson earned just $39,000 to fight and $39,000 to win against Nate Diaz for the UFC on Fox 5 show in December 2012. Bendo has to be fuming at the thought of Alvarez being granted the option of making multiple times the money Bendo currently earns as champion of the biggest organization in the world.
The Zuffa fighters who are signed into long-term contracts for low money and tiny increments in pay with each win don’t really have any options. But the fighters signed to short-term deals or with just 1-3 fights left on their contracts can tempt fate by seeing what the new Showtime MMA promotion or Bellator would be willing to offer them. Zuffa usually has to pay only slightly more than their competitors in order to maintain control over the fighters. Thanks to increased competition, some fighters might actually be able to get more money than before.
THE PAY-PER-VIEW MARKET
Zuffa faced hard times in 2012 due to the retirement of many prominent UFC stars. Add injury woes to the equation, and 2012 was yet another year of disappointing pay-per-view receipts for Zuffa. 2011 had already marked the first year that PPV revenue declined.
It’s easy to point fingers like Zuffa has done at Jon Jones over the cancellation of UFC 151. Jon Jones, originally slated to meet Dan Henderson in the main event of UFC 151, refused to face Chael Sonnen on short notice. Zuffa knew that without at least one major star on the card, the pay-per-view would tank, and pulled the plug on the event.
In truth, whether you like him or hate him, Jon Jones is one of the few new stars who can carry the UFC forward through the next decade. The light-heavyweight belt has been held by a variety of revolving-door champions since Chuck Liddell, the last dominant champion, lost the strap to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in 2007. Jones has drawn good numbers, like an estimated 700,000 for his rivalry with Rashad Evans at UFC 145. Like Calvin Candie from Django Unchained, Zuffa doesn’t really have to respect their fighters in order to profit greatly from them — and there seems to be no love lost between Dana White and Jon Jones.
The pay-per-view market is so important to Zuffa that Dan Henderson was passed over for the title shot he had already earned in favor of Chael Sonnen, coming off a loss to Anderson Silva, being gifted with a title shot against Jon Jones.
With no official rankings or mandatory contenders in mixed martial arts, fighters like Dan Henderson and Johny Hendricks will just have to wait their turn to fight for the title — assuming they ever get one.
WOMEN IN THE UFC
Next up is the highly-touted UFC arrival of Strikeforce 135-pound champion Ronda Rousey, who will square off with Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 in February. While this fight is certainly a watershed moment for gender equality in the sport, the UFC’s underlying motivations are nothing new. Rousey is like Gina Carano before her — a valuable asset who can headline shows, sell pay-per-views and tickets (although perhaps not as many as other major UFC stars, at least at this stage).
Zuffa is smart not to leave a 6-0 champion who has finished every fight via armbar for another promotion to use. That would be like leaving money on the table, something Zuffa is not exactly known for doing. If female fighters begin to connect with MMA fans on a larger scale — which they’re already doing, if Invicta FC’s growing audience is any indication — the UFC could find itself with a brand-new revenue stream.
Next up on the equality platform, watching Dana White scream, “Do you wanna be a fucking fighter”? at the next batch of female UFC hopefuls when they question why their “exhibition” matches on The Ultimate Fighter don’t pay anything.
THE RETURN OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION?
The FTC’s investigation into Zuffa was closed in February 2012. That doesn’t mean that the case won’t be reopened at a future date. Until Showtime or Bellator make a successful bid for the pay-per-view market in MMA, the UFC is the dominant monopoly in the sport, period.
It’s not unheard of for the government to attempt to investigate combat sports in the US: The International Boxing Club (IBC) had a stranglehold over boxing in the ’50s, until the United States Department of Justice declared the organization a monopoly and ordered the IBC’s dissolution in 1959.
There are many UFC fighters who might welcome an FTC investigation with open arms, especially if new laws were enacted to improve their bargaining position with the organization. Many fighters just want to see some transparency, as they are curious about the promotion’s revenue from television licensing, merchandise and other streams that Zuffa earns off their backs.
CONCLUSION
2013 could be the biggest year yet for changes in mixed martial arts. As the sport continues to grow, profits continue to rise. Only a select few have been able to capitalize on the upward trends for the sport, but this could be the year that shifts the balance of power between different stakeholders.
The promotions, television networks and fighters who are keenly following business forces and who understand how to create value will be the big winners at the end of the day. A lot is at stake, and there isn’t any room for failure in this sport.
MMA is on the verge of many developments that can transform the nature of the sport forever.
(In the words of my life coach, “If you ask me one more fucking question about that fucking joke Eddie Alvarez, I will fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before.”)
The drama continues to unfold in the Eddie Alvarez/UFC/Bellator love triangle that last saw Bjorn Rebney and Co. break go Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer on their former lightweight champion’s ass. And as Bill Shakespeare would tell you himself, no love triangle would be complete without a little dash of comedy. Enter Rebney, who recently attempted to shed some light on the convoluted goatscrew that (Bellator) negotiations oft become in a recent interview with BloodyElbow radio. When Rebney previously told reporters that he had matched the UFC’s offer on Alvarez “word for word,” the general consensus seemed to be that Rebney was simply speaking in hyperbole, for how could Bellator match the pay-per-view stipulations of the UFC’s contract when they don’t in fact broadcast pay-per-view events to begin with?
Well, it turns out that — at least according to the man himself — Rebney was not tugging our respective dicks when he said “word for word”:
I didn’t anticipate that the UFC would come in where they came in. They came in at a dollar figure in terms of the $250,000 signing bonus and the $70,000 plus $70,000 and some of the terms that we felt very comfortable matching. To avoid any questioning, to avoid any conflict, we literally took the UFC contract, took it out of a PDF format and we changed the UFC name to Bellator and we signed it and we sent it back to Ed.
Call me unrealistic, but I’d like to believe that Rebney signed his name in poo, or at least wiped his ass with the reprinted contract before sending it back to Eddie. And then when Alvarez flipped to the last page of this foul smelling document, there was a photo of Rebney, performing said act of asswhipery. Because those are the kinds of shenanigans that people who don’t give a fuck are wont to do.
Much more from this interview after the jump.
(In the words of my life coach, “If you ask me one more fucking question about that fucking joke Eddie Alvarez, I will fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before.”)
The drama continues to unfold in the Eddie Alvarez/UFC/Bellator love triangle that last saw Bjorn Rebney and Co. break go Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer on their former lightweight champion’s ass. And as Bill Shakespeare would tell you himself, no love triangle would be complete without a little dash of comedy. Enter Rebney, who recently attempted to shed some light on the convoluted goatscrew that (Bellator) negotiations oft become in a recent interview with BloodyElbow radio. When Rebney previously told reporters that he had matched the UFC’s offer on Alvarez “word for word,” the general consensus seemed to be that Rebney was simply speaking in hyperbole, for how could Bellator match the pay-per-view stipulations of the UFC’s contract when they don’t in fact broadcast pay-per-view events to begin with?
Well, it turns out that — at least according to the man himself — Rebney was not tugging our respective dicks when he said “word for word”:
I didn’t anticipate that the UFC would come in where they came in. They came in at a dollar figure in terms of the $250,000 signing bonus and the $70,000 plus $70,000 and some of the terms that we felt very comfortable matching. To avoid any questioning, to avoid any conflict, we literally took the UFC contract, took it out of a PDF format and we changed the UFC name to Bellator and we signed it and we sent it back to Ed.
Call me unrealistic, but I’d like to believe that Rebney signed his name in poo, or at least wiped his ass with the reprinted contract before sending it back to Eddie. And then when Alvarez flipped to the last page of this foul smelling document, there was a photo of Rebney, performing said act of asswhipery. Because those are the kinds of shenanigans that people who don’t give a fuck are wont to do.
Now, I know less about contract stipulations/negotiations than I do about sexual harassment in the workplace (according to Break’s HR department, at least), but has anyone ever heard of this kind of maneuver being pulled with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line before? Clearly Bjorn was surprised by how apparently low of an offer Alvarez received, but damn, I put more effort into the articles I copy/paste together for a living. This one, for instance.
And indeed, it was the lowball offer Alvarez received that in turn led to the current dispute between promotions:
The reality of the situation is Eddie and I had a really good working relationship for four years. I would hazard to even say we had a good friendship going for a lot of years. The last couple weeks have not been the highlight, the high water mark of that relationship. We entered into a contract with Eddie. In that contract, just like in the UFC deal, there’s what’s called a matching provision and what that means is when the contract comes to an end, you’ve got the right as the promoter that had the contract with the fighter to match it. What that requires is that you match all the material terms of the deal.
If Eddie had been presented with a Hector Lombard type of deal, I told Eddie after his fight with us where he knocked out Patricky Pitbull, he and I sat and had a drink, spent some time together after the fight. I said, ‘Look, dude. If you get a Hector deal, I’m just gonna wish you the best of luck, I’m gonna be your big fan and I’m gonna root for ya and I’ll just let you go. I’m not gonna match that deal because I don’t think we can monetize that deal.’
We scheduled a call last week and there were a series of attorneys, I think five or six for Ed and it was me and my partner on the phone and we talked through it and we recognized by the tone of what happened last week as did Ed’s team. I’m sure that it was headed in a bad direction. They indicated to us that they weren’t going to accept the match. It wasn’t 30 minutes after the call ended, it was 42 and Ed’s team filed a lawsuit against us in New Jersey and we filed a lawsuit against them. The lawsuits are not lawsuits because we dislike Ed. They just say, ‘Hey, we’re trying to enforce our contractual rights,’ and they’re lawsuit, which I have not yet read because I do not have a copy of it, I don’t know what it says but I’m assuming it makes whatever their claim is relative to not wanting the match to abide but they filed on us literally, I think it was within an hour of the phone call ending.
And as far as those pesky pay-per-view numbers Alvarez had been promised by both parties? Turns out, the UFC’s figures/points were just as hypothetical as Bellator’s. Again, according to Rebney.
The way that it would work is this: When you look at these contracts, what we are obligated to do, as per our matching rights just like what the UFC is obligated to do with their matching rights is you have to match any element of the contract that is guaranteed. So if the UFC says they’re gonna give Eddie Alvarez a $250,000 signing bonus and they say, ‘This is when the signing bonus will be paid,’ we have to do the same. If the UFC says, ‘We’re gonna pay you $70,000 to show and $70,000 to win, provided you are declared the winner of the bout by the applicable athletic commission blah, blah, blah,’ we have to provide that exact same opportunity for Ed.
So that’s the essence of what the matching is. There is no guarantee of pay-per-view in any way, shape or form in the agreement that was sent by the UFC. We’re held to the level of having to match a guarantee. We’re not held to a level of having to guarantee or having to match what was projected or what might happen. I think that’s the key misunderstanding. It’s not a matter of what could or might happen, it’s a matter of what’s guaranteed under the contract and that’s clearly understood and clearly the way it’s written.
Definitely an interesting development in what has quickly become one of the more prominent pieces of news currently floating around the MMA landscape.
Rebney went on to say that he harbored no ill-will towards Eddie and hoped that his promotion and the former champ could reconcile their differences in time for Bellator’s upcoming Spike debut. Rebney also stated that he was hopeful to try and book a rematch of Alvarez and the man who took his belt, Michael Chandler, somewhere down the line should Alvarez end up back in Bellator. In my opinion, this would be the only silver lining in the scenario where Alvarez sticks with Bellator. If I could tread so lightly, I would go as far as to say that the pair’s first fight sat atop Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua‘s epic brawl at UFC 139 on my end of the year list, but that is neither here nor there.
But what say you, Potato Nation? Is Alvarez worth all the trouble? Or should Bellator simply let him go, being that he clearly wants no part of their business anymore?
(“Keep laughing, Eddie, because as soon as you lose that belt, your ass is mine.”)
Former President Clinton once made infamous the phrase, “It depends on what your definition of the word ‘is’ is,” while answering questions from the Independent Counsel’s office on the all-important subject of Monica Lewinsky. With former Bellator lightweight champion/UFC hopeful Eddie Alvarez and his boss, Bjorn Rebney, the discrepancy appears to depend on what one’s definition of the word “matched” is.
It has been no secret that the UFC wants Alvarez under their banner. The top lightweight fought the last fight under his Bellator contract last October but the promotion has the right to match any contract offered to Alvarez and thus keep him with them.
The UFC did indeed recently make an offer to Alvarez, but it is here where the stories from the former champ and the Bellator CEO begin to differ.
First, Alvarez sat down with The MMA Hour and claimed that Bellator had not matched the UFC’s proposed terms. Rebney then went on MMA Weekly Radio and said that his organization had, in fact, matched the UFC’s contract offer to Alvarez, point for point.
And then things got really awkward.
(“Keep laughing, Eddie, because as soon as you lose that belt, your ass is mine.”)
Former President Clinton once made infamous the phrase, “It depends on what your definition of the word ’is’ is,” while answering questions from the Independent Counsel’s office on the all-important subject of Monica Lewinsky. With former Bellator lightweight champion/UFC hopeful Eddie Alvarez and his boss, Bjorn Rebney, the discrepancy appears to depend on what one’s definition of the word “matched” is.
It has been no secret that the UFC wants Alvarez under their banner. The top lightweight fought the last fight under his Bellator contract last October but the promotion has the right to match any contract offered to Alvarez and thus keep him with them.
The UFC did indeed recently make an offer to Alvarez, but it is here where the stories from the former champ and the Bellator CEO begin to differ.
First, Alvarez sat down with The MMA Hour and claimed that Bellator had not matched the UFC’s proposed terms. Rebney then went on MMA Weekly Radio and said that his organization had, in fact, matched the UFC’s contract offer to Alvarez, point for point.
And then things got really awkward.
“Everyone’s heard that Bellator has matched and whatnot. It’s a difficult situation,” Alvarez stated. “We went to settlement a couple days ago. We had a settlement meeting where everything was supposed to get worked out. I was sued maybe 30 minutes after that. There’s a lot of tension in the air. We don’t believe it was matched at all. I wanted to give details but I can’t because we’re in the middle of a pending lawsuit. ”
Rebney denied that Bellator did not match the UFC’s contract offer to Alvarez, saying, “Ed went out and got an offer from the UFC, and we took a look at that offer, reviewed it for about eight days, and decided to match it dollar for dollar,
deal point for deal point, term for term. We matched every single element of it, word for word.”
Well, Taters, I’m no lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but it would appear that either Rebney or Alvarez are lying their asses off here. If Bellator actually copied and pasted the UFC’s offer to Alvarez, we’re not sure how Alvarez could reasonably not see that Bellator had matched the UFC’s contract [Ed note: Based on what I’ve read, it appears that the biggest discrepancy seems to be in the PPV figures Alvarez was offered by both parties. Whereas the UFC, you know, actually hosts PPV’s which Alvarez could cash in on, Bellator’s PPV proposal seems more hypothetical than anything. -Danga]. The only good thing that could come from Bellator suing Alvarez is that the contract offers may very well become public information before a court and it might become plain to see who is in the right.
With Rebney and Bellator’s penchant for playing tough with free-agent fighters and then playing it loose and fast with the facts in the media [Ed note: For examples of this, see Tyson Namand Jay Hieron], Alvarez might be the safer bet to side with for now. One thing is certain, Michael Chandler has to be wondering what he has to do to get his own bidding war between Bellator and the UFC.
Pat Curran may have won two tournaments while fighting for 
