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[Sniggles]

Originally Posted by dbader08

What a scumbag Rebney is. Eddie fulfilled his end of the deal and now he wants to move on. I don't see what's wrong with that...especially if he's getting a better offer from the UFC...plus when you add in potential PPV incentives, and the amount of exposure he will get from the UFC, it's an easy choice for a guy like Eddie to make.

I entirely agree.

[Spoon]

Bjorn Rebney on dispute over matching Eddie Alvarez's UFC offer: 'We didn't alter a word' - MMA Fighting

"I will tell you point blank, no questions asked, we matched it dollar for dollar, term for term and section for section," he said. "To avoid any kind of ambiguity, let me make clear, we took the UFC contract, we took it out of the PDF format, we changed the name 'UFC' to 'Bellator' and we signed it. We didn't alter a word, we didn't alter a phrase, we didn't alter a section, we didn't alter a dollar figure."

Then how can it be that such a discrepancy between the two sides would arise? As far as Rebney can tell, Alvarez's issue comes from the projected dollar figures he could earn from the UFC's pay-per-view bonus structure.

"Could" is the operative word there, as according to Rebney, that pay-per-view money in the UFC offer to Alvarez is nothing more than a hypothetical.

"There is no guaranteed pay-per-view in the UFC offer to Eddie Alvarez," he says emphatically. "We as Bellator don't have to match projections. We don't have to match what could conceptually happen. We have to match guaranteed dollars and what the UFC contractually guaranteed would occur. That is what we are held to."

Despite that, Rebney said that Alvarez's pay-per-view stake was matched anyway, under the belief that Bellator could move into the pay-per-view market with the right fight, for example, a rematch of the notable 2011 bout between Alvarez and Michael Chandler.

[Y2JUBAE]

Wow, I was really liking Bellator, but I won't watch that shit anymore. Suing fighters because they want to leave when their contract is up is bullshit. I think Bellator has just ended their organization with this stupid move. No fighter will want to sign with them after this. Eddie has more fans than Bellator and he made that company what it is. This is their appreciation? I thought Bellator was better than this.

[lewk4]

unfair, but not altogether surprising. bellator knows they can't truly match the UFCs offer (much less afford to keep the other fighters they develop and continually get 'cherry-picked') but time being important they figure they can chisel out a few extra bucks in a settlement (instead of a dragged out lawsuit).
bottom line, most likely Eddie soon prolly gets his new contract and this is Bellator's way of getting a 'transfer fee' as in international football.

[W.Silva>C.Norris]

Assuming the setup on contracts here is similar to the concept of restricted free agency in the NHL, Bellator is technically in the right here, based on what Ive read so far. Also, I do have to agree that ppv percentages are nothing more then speculation really. I mean, he could sign a 4 fight deal, and never see a ppv with the frequency of fights on fox etc that are shown now..

[MIZjitsZOU]

Seems to me that UFC just needs to pony up. I don't see where Bellator is in the wrong. They are following the guidelines of his contract. If you don't want to follow your obligations then don't sign the contract. I know all about that just ask uncle sam.

[Rise]

Originally Posted by W.Silva>C.Norris

Assuming the setup on contracts here is similar to the concept of restricted free agency in the NHL, Bellator is technically in the right here, based on what Ive read so far. Also, I do have to agree that ppv percentages are nothing more then speculation really. I mean, he could sign a 4 fight deal, and never see a ppv with the frequency of fights on fox etc that are shown now..

It's pretty much the same thing as restricted free agency they have the right to match any offer. So yeah technically they are in the right here legally. Of course this will it tougher for them to lock people up like this later on down the road as fighters will be less likely to sign on after seeing what happens here.

I'm surprised Zuffa didn't get a little more creative in their contract wording to get around this. They could have put in guaranteed PPV appearance and percentage bonus for it. It wouldn't have even needed to be a big one just something say in the next few months and a small percentage as Bellator would not have been able to duplicate this.

Originally Posted by MIZjitsZOU

Seems to me that UFC just needs to pony up. I don't see where Bellator is in the wrong. They are following the guidelines of his contract. If you don't want to follow your obligations then don't sign the contract. I know all about that just ask uncle sam.

The problem there though is if they go overboard on paying to get Alvarez it spirals throughout the rest of the roster. As good as Alvarez is they can't throw fistfuls of cash at him and not expect the other top LW's to want the same in return. So while they could afford to outbid Bellator pretty easily on this they'd have to shell out a lot more cash to the other top lightweights on the roster.

[KevoOnTheRadio]

Then how can it be that such a discrepancy between the two sides would arise? As far as Rebney can tell, Alvarez's issue comes from the projected dollar figures he could earn from the UFC's pay-per-view bonus structure.

"Could" is the operative word there, as according to Rebney, that pay-per-view money in the UFC offer to Alvarez is nothing more than a hypothetical.

"There is no guaranteed pay-per-view in the UFC offer to Eddie Alvarez," he says emphatically. "We as Bellator don't have to match projections. We don't have to match what could conceptually happen. We have to match guaranteed dollars and what the UFC contractually guaranteed would occur. That is what we are held to."

Does anybody know of a precedent for this, maybe from another sport?

[MirJitsu]

Really just one side of the story. As much hate as Rebney is getting, and I'm not necessarily defending him, but Dana White (along with Ferttitas) have done just as many shady things, if not more.

Huge fan of Bellator and completely okay with Alvarez leaving if it happens. He'll get to face the top competition in UFC and make plenty of money. If it works out that he's back with Bellator, I think he ends up losing to Chandler again, and where does he go from there?

[Sniggles]

Bellator just wants to squeeze some money from Zuffa despite Alvarez's clear intentions to leave.

Bjorn is a cunt in my books.