Eddie Alvarez contract thread - Offered immediate title shot if signs with UFC

[Greezy]

ante up81 nailed the first part. does the ufc even need him. gilberts the new pride and joy. say eddie signs with the ufc and goes three and out. does he go back to bellator with his tail beteween his legs and beg for his job back or fly back to japan and fight some trash cans.

[LordZardoz]

The flaw in Zardoz's line of thinking is that there are only two girls in town currently. The fat chick (Bellator) and the pornstar (UFC) (which, btw, paints a pretty bland picture for Zardoz as a person when he uses a pornstar as an example, but I digress).

If Alvarez shuns the fat chick for the pornstar, when the pornstar drops him like yesterday's garbage - the fat chick isn't going to be too excited to give him what he wants again.

In other words, if he leaves for the UFC and washes out (not saying he will, but IF) - then the money won't be there at Bellator anymore (and quite possibly not a job at all). The "name value" Alvarez has is with Bellator. If he loses a bunch of matches, he loses his value (and his money making ability).

So the "fall back plan" idea isn't a reality.

The fat chick vs porn star analogy was aimed at Geezy. I figured that metaphor would work better then a 7 page dissertation when making a point to him. (I was also about to describe Strikeforce as being a beloved grandmother lying in an open casket, for whatever that is worth).

Washing out of the UFC hurts, but what happens to Alvarez's name value if he loses in the early round of a Bellator tournament?

Alvarez is more important to Bellator than he is to the UFC, but other than a rematch with Chandler, there is nothing in Bellator that Alvarez wants which he cannot get in the UFC. A title shot for Alvarez will require 3 tournament wins in Bellator unless Rebney makes that concession. A UFC title shot is probably about the same number of fights away in the UFC. Essentially it's the same amount of work in either promotion, but a much bigger payoff. The only difference is a Bellator title fight might come sooner since the tournaments only take a few months to complete while Alvarez may need more time to get a UFC shot to happen.

Also consider that Chandler did get the belt from Alvarez, so within the metaphor the fat chick is already putting out for someone else.

END COMMUNICATION

[BulldogWrestler]

Back to dudes contract.. basically alvarez is a restricted free agent?

I cant imagine alvarez getting offered mountains of money. his problem is that 155 is the most stacked division, theyve got plenty of talent there and lots of potential contenders. they dont need to give him lombard money to build up a weak division. so ill just assume he stays with bellator til he's way past his prime at which point the ufc signs him and ho hum yada yada yada

I guess you can compare it to restricted free agency in the NFL.

I think the only reason the UFC was offering him a boatload of cash was to keep him out of Bellator. It would take away any "name recognition" they have outside of maybe Askren I guess.

[split decision]

Eddie, you've been served...

Bellator sues 'betrayed' Eddie Alvarez, fight future in limbo pending lawsuit

Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez revealed today (Jan. 7, 2013) his former promotion has filed a lawsuit against him after contract negotiations went sour.

When Eddie Alvarez fulfilled the final fight on his Bellator contract last October, he did so in impressive fashion by disposing of Patricky Freire in the very first round via knockout.

The performance only raised the lightweight's stock further, making him a very hot commodity Bellator clearly wanted to retain and one Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) obviously wanted on its roster.

UFC president Dana White knew obtaining the talents of the former 155-pound champion wouldn't be easy. As a matter of fact, the brash head honcho of the world's leading mixed martial arts (MMA) organization hinted just last week that it would get downright "ugly."

Apparently, White was on to something.

After Zuffa finally made an official contract offer to "The Silent Assassin," Bellator proceeded to match it, leaving the next move up to Lorenzo Fertitta and White, which has yet to be made. In the midst of it all, Eddie himself has remained rather quiet, choosing to lay low and let things play themselves out.

Until now.

Appearing on today's (Jan. 7, 2013) episode of "The MMA Hour," Alvarez revealed negotiations with Bellator took a turn for the worse and the promotion he's called home for the last three years is now suing him after Team Alvarez felt the offer from Bellator was far from a match compared to the one received from the UFC.

His words:

"Everyone heard that Bellator has matched and what not. It's such a difficult situation. We went to settlement maybe a a couple of days ago. We had a settlement meeting where we were supposed to settle our differences and everything was supposed to get worked out . Long story short, I was sued thirty minutes after our settlement agreement was over. There was some tension in the air and I'm trying not to get too frustrated in the meantime of what's going on."

As far as Bellator matching the contract made by the UFC, Alvarez says the offer was not even close to being equal:

"No we don't believe it was matched at all. I want to give details to you guys, but I'm not allowed because were in the middle of a pending lawsuit, I guess. All I can say is, like I said on twitter the other day. If I wanted to go to dinner with one guy, and another guy asked me to dinner. And the intentions of guy number one were to take me to fine dining restaurant to eat lobster and the intentions of the second guy is to take me to McDonald's, then guy number two just believes that dinner is dinner. And dinner isn't dinner. There is a huge difference when talking about MacDonald's and fine dining. The two we don't believe are comparable.

When I signed with Bellator four years ago, I read everything. I'm a man of my word and I'm willing to fulfill every obligation and I did that. I held my end of the bargain, fought every fight they wanted me to fight and the truth is, it's not a match. A match, in my book, a match is if I was to fight for one promotion and got paid ten dollars, then the other promotion would pay me ten dollars. That's not what's going on here. They're going to the media saying it's a match, not even close. The terms are not the same, not even, no, not the same. I don't know what the strategy is here. To us, it's plain and simple. If this goes before anybody, they are going to see pretty much that it is not a match. I'm disappointed. I gave a lot of my life to Bellator, to this promotion, and I've let them know how I feel and I don't get much back in return."

Alvarez also revealed he "liked" the UFC deal and declared it "was a much better deal" than Bellator's and also revealed he isn't quite sure on what grounds Bellator was suing him for. As much as he wanted to reveal details to all the happenings of his current battle, "The Silent Assassin" just couldn't, for legal reasons.

He did mention this isn't the first time Bellator has threatened to sue him, just the first they actually followed through.

Following his appearance on The MMA Hour, Alvarez opened himself up for questions via his twitter account, mentioning how he feels "betrayed" by Bjorn Rebney when asked about the situation.

See Rebney's response right here.

Unfortunately for Eddie, it seems the road back to action will be prolonged a bit further as his fighting future now lies in the hands of the court system.

http://www.mmamania.com/2013/1/7/384...ed-by-bellator

[XiaolinFighter]

This seems interesting, to say the least. I do love a good lawsuit, it'll be fun to pick over once the details become public. I just feel bad for the guy in the meantime.

[Cbear]

so Eddie sits in cold storage for 2013 while the lawsuits fly.

[Best80smovieRAD]

So I figured guys contract numbers getting out eventually would spill over to how other fighters view they should be paid. It seems Ben Henderson is annoyed with his pay compared to what Eddie was offered.

Benson Henderson ‏@BensonHenderson
"Thats A LOT of cheddar!RT @MikeChiappetta: Bjorn says Alvarez match deal was exact same as Zuffa, gives contract $ info"

Benson Henderson ‏@BensonHenderson
"I get 39k"

Benson Henderson ‏@BensonHenderson
"Bah...idk...RT @EaglesWhat83: @BensonHenderson @MolesyMMA how long until you can renegotiate your contract?"

Benson Henderson ‏@BensonHenderson
"YES...RT @gizzmo11477: @BensonHenderson @MolesyMMA does that make you want to get him in the cage even more? Lmao"

Benson Henderson ‏@BensonHenderson
"Just not in a good mood, bout to hop off here before i get myself in troubleRT @Ryan_Mairs101: @BensonHenderson Ignore these wack fans champ"

I feel this is going to become an issue down the line, its going to be hard to satisfy everyone

[split decision]

So I figured guys contract numbers getting out eventually would spill over to how other fighters view they should be paid. It seems Ben Henderson is annoyed with his pay compared to what Eddie was offered.
I feel this is going to become an issue down the line, its going to be hard to satisfy everyone

Isn't Bendo fighting for Jesus first? Money is secondary (that said, $3,900 should have gone to the church).

Also, this seems to confirm Benson really was paid a paltry $39,000 for his last fight. Disgracefully low for a champion, no matter the weight class.

[ante_up81]

bendo needs to realize alvarez is just a power move... same with lombard. he gets ppv points like all champs he just doesnt draw monster ppv numbers... thus being on fox cards, twice

[fightfan10]

i assume that ufc's contract offer had a clause that included bonuses if alverez headlines a ppv.
bellator can match the offer knowing that they will not do a ppv and not have to pay the bonus.
bellator matches the contract offer, but alverez says they are matching the contract in the literal sense but not the intent.

if this is the situation, it makes for an interesting lawsuit.

both sides have legitimate arguments.