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[Cat--Smasher]

Bellator sues 'betrayed' Eddie Alvarez, fight future in limbo pending lawsuit - MMAmania.com

After Zuffa finally made an official contract offer to "The Silent Assassin," Bellator proceeded to match it, leaving the next move up the 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 of 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.

[SickNasty]

What a shitty situation.

[mmawolverine]

i tweeted dana to fk with bellator by sending another offer under the strikeforce or forza llc banner, i wonder is its legally sound

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Just ask Sugar Ray Leonard about how shifty Bjorn is.

[mma #1 fan]

has bellator ever let a fighter go with out suing them ?

has bellator ever won

[Fe1]

This is absolutely rediculous. Alvarez is the biggest star to come out of Bellator and has probably made them more money than any other fighter. You would think they would be more grateful than this, rather than burning the bridge with with the guy that helped them get to where they are today.

[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.

[Bearded Big Country]

If this is the way it seems, even if Eddie was forced to stay he's going to make it uncomfortable as hell

[1inthechamber]

What a jackass, that rebney guy is a prick. Don't worry, eventually Dana will buy him out too and fire his ass too.

[joeodd2]

I hate to hear this, Bellator is my favorite up in coming organization. They really have a bright future, but all of these legal manouvors are just costly and unneccesary. Instead about worrying about protecting name talent they should focus on devolop stronger fighters, like mike chandler who defeated alverez for example. Perfect example of how Bellator devolops killers who can compete against some of the best in the world. They should not worry about names leaving, but rather devoloping more talent. If Hector Lombard goes on to win a title in the UFC, if he goes on a huge streak. That only lifts Bellator's profile. Same with Alverez. I just don't see why they would bother to fight it. It makes no sense to me. I hope this gets sorted out in a civil manner. It sounds like Borjn may be letting the lawyers make these kinds of decisions, he should look at the bigger picture and stop fighting over peanuts.