The MMA Report reports that Eddie Alvarez’s contract has him specifically fighting Michael Chandler. The apparent clause in the contract would leave Bellator without the opportunity for Alvarez to fight interim champion Will Brooks.
You will recall that Bellator and Alvarez were embroiled in a contentious legal battle which was finally settled. Although terms of the settlement were not revealed to the public, it appears that Alvarez specifically had set his sights on Michael Chandler.
In the post-Bellator 120 press conference, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney stated that Alvarez’s next fight will be on PPV although the issue of Alvarez’s next opponent may be a factor prior to what platform the fight will be shown.
Payout Perspective:
Here we go again with contract issues. It’s hard to comment on a contract without first seeing it but from what we know from The MMA Report’s report it seems like Alvarez and his camp believed that Michael Chandler was the only opponent for Alvarez. One would think to ensure that Alvarez fought the champion of the division, his contract would not specifically name an individual, but just that he would face the champion in the lightweight division. With the Will Brooks upset, Alvarez now is contractually obligated to face Chandler in what would be an entertaining, yet meaningless fight for Bellator’s lightweight division. Of course, Bellator could persuade Alvarez to take on Brooks and unify the titles. Alvarez, in one last shot at the company, could decline the offer and take on Chandler.
The Chandler fight still seems like the one that would draw more PPV buys (assuming it’s on PPV), but the Brooks fight would make more sense since there are now two titleholders at 155 and Bellator would probably want to unify the titles as soon as possible. In the end, Alvarez’s advisers will probably go with the fight that provides the most money for Alvarez.
UPDATE 5/20/14: In accompanying this post, you should also read Will Brooks recent twitter timeline and John Nash’s piece on Bellator contracts on BE. I would suspect that Alvarez’s negotiated settlement of his lawsuit included that his contract with Bellator not have a “Champions” clause which may cause him to continue to stay with the company.
I think this article is not completely correct. It is not Eddie Alvarez’s contract that would allow him to be able to choose to fight Michael Chandler, it is reportedly part of the settlement agreement between Bellator and Alvarez. Further, as Bjorn Rebney has indicated, Alvarez can choose to fight Chandler (per the settlement agreement) or Alvarez could choose to fight Will Brooks. So, Alvarez is not “contractually obligated” to fight Chandler at this time. However, should Alvarez elect to fight Chandler instead of Brooks, Bellator would have to comply with Alvarez’s choice. In other words, whether Alvarez will fight Brooks next or Chandler is up to Alvarez at this point. Alvarez holds all the cards in this regard. It is up to him.