Tag: Eddie Alvarez

Eddie Alvarez: Bellator Did Not Match UFC’s Offer and Is Now Suing Me

Coveted MMA free agent Eddie Alvarez said Bellator did not offer a fair match to the UFC’s contract offer and is now actually suing the lightweight fighter.Speaking Monday on The MMA Hour with host Ariel Helwani, a cautious and cagey Alvarez indicated …

Coveted MMA free agent Eddie Alvarez said Bellator did not offer a fair match to the UFC’s contract offer and is now actually suing the lightweight fighter.

Speaking Monday on The MMA Hour with host Ariel Helwani, a cautious and cagey Alvarez indicated the contract negotiations had been difficult and that formal legal action is now apparently the next step in the proceedings:

We don’t believe [the UFC contract offer] was matched at all. I want to give details, but we’re in the middle of a lawsuit…We went to a settlement meeting maybe a couple days ago…and I was sued 30 minutes after that meeting was over. So there’s some tension in the air. I’m trying not to get too frustrated in the meantime.

It was previously reported that Bellator matched the UFC’s offer, but Alvarez indicated that the terms were not actually comparable. Alvarez, who said he was not allowed to discuss the details or terms of either contract offer, compared the situation to a dinner date:

It’s like one guy has the intention to take me to a fine restaurant and eat lobster, and the other guy wants to take me to McDonald’s. The second guy thinks dinner is dinner. But the two things are very different…A match in my book is if one promotion pays me $10, then the other promotion would pay me $10. But that’s not what happened.

When his most recent contract with Bellator expired, Alvarez (24-3) became the subject of a complex and, apparently, acrimonious bidding war between the UFC and Bellator. The former Bellator lightweight champion, Alvarez, 28, is considered one of the best lightweights in the world, despite never fighting in the UFC. Alvarez is unquestionably one of the best and most marketable fighters on the Bellator roster.

Alvarez expressed confusion over the nature of the lawsuit, though he had a clear opinion on such a lawsuit’s merits.

“I’m not 100 percent sure what the lawsuit is for,” Alvarez said. “To us, it’s pretty plain and simple. If this goes before anybody in court, they’re going to see really fast that this is not a match.”

Alvarez said he did not know what the next steps might be or what the time frame for a resolution might look like. In the meantime, Alvarez said he would continue to train.

“I’m disappointed,” he said. “I gave a lot of my life to Bellator, and I’ve let them know how I feel, and I don’t get much back in return…It’s awful.”

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Friday Link Dump: Jim Miller Calls Out Maynard, Rousey’s UFC Debut Not Moving Tickets, The 100 Hottest Sports WAGs Ever + More


(We highly recommend Margold’s dystopian sci-fi novel, “A Future Without Kleenex.” Check out 29 more amazing real-life job titles at WorldWideInterweb.)

– Jim Miller Looking to Avenge Losses; Calls out Gray Maynard (BleacherReport)

– Invicta 4: MMA’s All-Female Promotion Tests Pay-Per-View Waters (MMAJunkie)

– New Video Promo For The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen (Fightline)

– Ronda Rousey Isn’t a Box Office Knockout for UFC 157 Tickets (MMAFighting)

– Check Out Joe Lauzon’s Super Bloody UFC 155 Fight Vlog (MiddleEasy)

– Someone in New York City Voted for Chael Sonnen for President (CageWriter)

– Eddie Alvarez Almost Ready to Say ‘F!@# it’ as UFC and Bellator Contract Negotiations Get Ugly (BloodyElbow)

– 10 Awesome Photos of Head Kicks (FightDay)

– The 100 Hottest WAGS in Sports History (Complex)

– What’s the Right Way to End a First Date? (MensFitness)

– Vince Gilligan Tells Us What To Expect From The ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale (ScreenJunkies)


(We highly recommend Margold’s dystopian sci-fi novel, “A Future Without Kleenex.” Check out 29 more amazing real-life job titles at WorldWideInterweb.)

– Jim Miller Looking to Avenge Losses; Calls out Gray Maynard (BleacherReport)

– Invicta 4: MMA’s All-Female Promotion Tests Pay-Per-View Waters (MMAJunkie)

– New Video Promo For The Ultimate Fighter: Jones vs. Sonnen (Fightline)

– Ronda Rousey Isn’t a Box Office Knockout for UFC 157 Tickets (MMAFighting)

– Check Out Joe Lauzon’s Super Bloody UFC 155 Fight Vlog (MiddleEasy)

– Someone in New York City Voted for Chael Sonnen for President (CageWriter)

– Eddie Alvarez Almost Ready to Say ‘F!@# it’ as UFC and Bellator Contract Negotiations Get Ugly (BloodyElbow)

– 10 Awesome Photos of Head Kicks (FightDay)

– The 100 Hottest WAGS in Sports History (Complex)

– What’s the Right Way to End a First Date? (MensFitness)

– Vince Gilligan Tells Us What To Expect From The ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale (ScreenJunkies)

– 6 Things on the Internet That Are Pissing Me Off This Week (EgoTV)

– Quentin Tarantino Talks About the Time His Mom Banged Wilt Chamberlain (FilmDrunk)

UFC News: Eddie Alvarez About to Say ‘F!@# It’ Regarding Contract Negotiations

Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is sitting in MMA purgatory as Bellator and the UFC fight over who will sign him. Needless to say, he isn’t thrilled about that. “The Silent Assassin,” who has been a free agent since an October w…

Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is sitting in MMA purgatory as Bellator and the UFC fight over who will sign him. Needless to say, he isn’t thrilled about that. 

“The Silent Assassin,” who has been a free agent since an October win over Patricky Freire, voiced his frustrations on Twitter early Thursday morning. 

Alvarez also tweeted: “Guys its not Up to Me , Who I fight for ,Trust Me” regarding his ongoing contract struggle. 

The 28-year-old fought his way to a 9-1 record under the Bellator banner, with his sole loss being a championship bout against Michael Chandler at Bellator 58 in November 2011. 

Since then, he has knocked out two other respected lightweights in Shinya Aoki (avenging a December 2008 loss) and Freire. 

The UFC first offered Alvarez a contract in mid-December, just over two months after his Bellator contract expired, before his most recent employer entered a counter-offer. 

At the UFC 155 post-fight media conference, UFC president Dana White told MMA Junkie that he expected contract negotiations to “get ugly.” 

Given Alvarez’s reaction, it appears that negotiations are not going swimmingly at all.

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Bellator Matches UFC’s Offer on Eddie Alvarez

It appears that Eddie Alvarez might not be UFC-bound after all.After finishing the last bout on his Bellator contract in late 2012, former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was considered to be on a one-way train to Zuffa-ville. “The Silent Assassin” …

It appears that Eddie Alvarez might not be UFC-bound after all.

After finishing the last bout on his Bellator contract in late 2012, former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez was considered to be on a one-way train to Zuffa-ville. “The Silent Assassin” even received an offer from the UFC in December after some Tweets from Dana White gave us a not-so-subtle guess as to whether or not the company was interested in his services.

However, on Wednesday, John Morgan of MMAJunkie reported that Bellator has decided to match that offer.

On December 28, according to John Morgan of MMAJunkie, UFC president Dana White stated that he expected the negotiations with Alvarez to “get ugly,” which led to speculation that Bellator wasn’t going to let go of their former champion without a struggle.

The source article makes it clear that nothing is official as of yet and that there could potentially be some wiggle room for Alvarez to sneak into the UFC’s back door.

An official announcement isn’t expected to be made until a legal review of both contracts is complete. Multiple sources indicated Bellator’s offer was made “in good faith” and appears on the surface to match the deal previously offered by the UFC. However, it does not appear Alvarez has yet accepted Bellator’s contract offer and may be seeking clarification on contract language in each of the two deals. Chief among those concerns will likely be whether or not Alvarez has the right to sign with another promotion while still operating inside of Bellator’s matching period.

Despite losing his championship in a 2011 bout with Michael Chandler, Alvarez’s name remains on the tongue on fans and pundits alike. In 2012, the Philadelphia native scored knockout wins over highly regarded submission ace Shinya Aoki and top Bellator lightweight Patricky “Pitbull” Freire.

In addition, he has career wins over UFC veterans Roger Huerta, Josh Neer, Derrick Noble and Aaron Riley.

The loss of Alvarez would be an enormous hit to Bellator. In 2012,  then-champions Hector Lombard and Cole Konrad left the organization while reigning champions Christian M’Pumbu, Eduardo Dantas and Zoila Gurgel have each lost non-title bouts.

“It really becomes for us a mathematical analysis,” Rebney said, according to MMA Junkie. “We know where we would want to be with Ed, we know what kind of a deal structure would work for Bellator and our partners at Spike TV, and we’re just waiting.

Apparently, the deal made sense for the tournament-based organization. Now, we just wait for an official announcement. However, fans of seeing the best fighters in the world square off against one another should be praying for Alvarez to wind up in the UFC, fighting the likes of Benson Henderson, Gilbert Melendez and Donald Cerrone.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

MMA News: Eddie Alvarez Lights Up Gilbert Melendez on Twitter

Two of the hottest lightweight prospects outside the UFC could be heading to the Octagon any day now, and if it’s up to Eddie Alvarez, he’d like to be the one to derail the Gilbert Melendez hype train. Last Friday, Alvarez took a serious shot at “…

Two of the hottest lightweight prospects outside the UFC could be heading to the Octagon any day now, and if it’s up to Eddie Alvarez, he’d like to be the one to derail the Gilbert Melendez hype train. 

Last Friday, Alvarez took a serious shot at “El Nino,” basically saying that his recent call out of UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is a joke…and that’s putting it nicely.

 

“Why does Gil .M continue to call out people He knows he cant fight. Hes like the HS cheerleader who wants to s*** off every new QB.

— Edward Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) December 14, 2012“

 

Alvarez, who just received a contract offer from the UFC, could still end up fighting for Bellator in 2013 as they decide whether or not they decide to match the offer. 

“The Silent Assassin” boasts a 9-1 record under the Bellator banner, defeating the likes of Shinya Aoki, Pat Curran and Roger Huerta. His sole loss came against Michael Chandler in a lightweight title fight last November.

Meanwhile, Melendez, the reigning Strikeforce 155-pound title holder, is expected to head over to the Octagon shortly after his current promotion folds in January. 

The Cesar Gracie brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is riding a seven-fight win streak, though many fans and analysts alike felt he should have lost a very close rubber match against Josh Thompson in May. 

The judges that night disagreed, though, as the champion walked away with a split decision victory. 

Should Alvarez and Melendez make their way to the UFC next year, should it be academic that they now square off against one another?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator Lightweight Eddie Alvarez Offered UFC Contract

Bellator’s former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has reportedly been offered a UFC contract. The news was broken by Sports Illustrated’s Loretta Hunt via Twitter.  (H/T MMA Mania). “Per Bellator’s Bjorn Rebney, they’ve receiv…

Bellator’s former lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has reportedly been offered a UFC contract.

The news was broken by Sports Illustrated’s Loretta Hunt via Twitter.  (H/T MMA Mania).

“Per Bellator’s Bjorn Rebney, they’ve received UFC contract offer for Eddie Alvarez and are now a few days into 2-wk matching period,” tweeted Hunt.

Alvarez is widely considered one of the best lightweights currently not fighting in the UFC, the other being Strikeforce’s Gilbert Melendez.

But while Melendez, after Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce, is likely to find himself within the UFC umbrella soon, Alvarez’s future has been less clear.

Alvarez is 24-3 in his MMA career and became Bellator’s first lightweight champion in 2009 before losing it last year to Michael Chandler. His contract expired following his win against Brazilian Patricky Freire, and the fighter has been locked in talks with his company over a new deal ever since.

UFC president Dana White hinted as early as October that the promotion was “definitely” interested in Alvarez, however, under Bellator’s exclusive contract with the fighter, the promotion has first refusal over any new deal. That means, Bellator has the opportunity to match any competing offer Alvarez receives.

Loretta Hunt added that Rebney the president of Bellator has said the promotion is able to match the UFC’s offer, and the decision whether the fighter will stay within the organisation will be made in the next week and a half.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com