Rumor is Bellator matched Eddies UFC offer

[EmpireWF]

Judge denied the injunction, so Eddie's fight continues.

He wont be fighting in April since all the advertising has to be settled soon.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

That judge seems to be buying what Zuffa is selling.

 

[Liquidrob]

That judge seems to be buying what Zuffa is selling.

?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

?

I misread Empire's post.

More:

U.S. District Judge Jose Linares ruled today against granting Eddie Alvarez an injunction against Bellator's claim that they had matched his contract.

What this means is Alvarez is not yet able to sign with UFC, and he will almost surely not be able to fight on the 4/27 show in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center, which was scheduled as his debut.

Linares ruled that Alvarez's attorneys did not today at the hearing show a reasonable probability of winning the case in the end, nor show that irreparable harm would be done if Alvarez was not granted the injunction and allowed to fight.

The key is that Alvarez's contract gave him a cut of the PPV for his first fight, and being on the Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen show, if that show were to do 600,000 s, which may be a lot estimate, Alvarez would receive a $600,000 bonus.

Unless his debut fight was on a show that would be a similar or better number, his PPV bonus would be less, and it could be considerably less or even negligible depending on what fight he was to debut on.

The judge did write that a judge or jury could find that Alvarez fighting on Spike is not matching him fighting on FOX, and thus Bellator didn't match the contract. However, Linares refused to make that ruling today.

He also ruled that he could not rule that Alvarez not fighting on 4/27 would be a lost career opportunity. Linares wrote to grant that, the court would have to rule on what might happen based on his participation in the event and said the court could make no such assumptions.

 

[EmpireWF]

Eddie's been killing Bellator the past few days on Twitter.

 

[Liquidrob]

Eddie won't settle and wants a trail

Bellator should have gave up on this early on, they don't need Eddie and he already lost to Chandler, it would have looked good if he made a nice run in the UFC

 

[EmpireWF]

Eddie interview with Botter talking detailing Viacom's scummy business practices.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...uit-with-bellator-ufc-contract-offer-and-more

 

[Steel Mamba]

Why do the fans and fighters continue to support Bellator when they treat their fighters like this?

 

[EmpireWF]

Why do the fans and fighters continue to support Bellator when they treat their fighters like this?

Well, they still have some of the best fighters in the world...and competition is important.

 

[Liquidrob]

Why do the fans and fighters continue to support Bellator when they treat their fighters like this?

lol, by having Eddie honor a contract that he signed which is an exact duplicate of UFC contracts?

Bellator is the same company that said he is the highest paid LW in the sport a couple years ago while he was teammates with current UFC LW champion Frankie Edgar

Yeah, they are really screwing him, he actually has more guaranteed money in the bellator offer than the UFC offer they 'matched'

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Alvarez has backtracked a lot in the last few months. He was all over Rebney in the early stages of this, and in that Botter interview he really lets Rebney off the hook and goes after Viacom. It seems like he knows there is a good chance he's going back to Bellator and wants to play nice with Bjorn just in case.

I see where Alvarez is coming from in terms of theoretical PPV money being larger in UFC, but at the end of the day, Bellator took the UFC contract, swapped out "UFC" for "Bellator", and matched it word for word. I'm not sure theoreticals will matter in court. I know the subpoenaed Dave Meltzer and somebody else to offer potential PPV estimates, but i'm not sure how far something like that will go for a judge.

On one hand, any judge who studies the PPV business will realize the UFC contract will be worth significantly more. On the other hand, if that precedent is set, all UFC has to do in the future for any contract in throw in a PPV bonus. That won't matter in most cases because UFC won't want to do that unless it's a star. But if Bellator ever creates a REAL star (and Alvarez really isnt that big of a star and isnt worth all of this fuss from either side in my opinion), I can see why this is an important precedent to avoid.

 

[Liquidrob]

Eddie just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time

Lombard was the first big free agent and the UFC gave him very good money for what they usually pay guys, so bellator didn't match. Eddie was the low ball offer and the UFC was testing the waters to what they can get away with when trying to sign Bellator guys

He just happened to be 2nd, not a good spot for him, the UFC now knows where the line is when free agents come available unless Viacom puts more money into MMA and starts paying more, Eddie just got caught in the crossfire. In the long run its actuallu better for the fighters, just not Eddie

 

[Steel Mamba]

lol, by having Eddie honor a contract that he signed which is an exact duplicate of UFC contracts?

He fulfilled his contract, it's clear he doesn't want to resign with Bellator, so let him go. Rampage wanted to leave, the UFC let him walk.

Bellator is the same company that said he is the highest paid LW in the sport a couple years ago while he was teammates with current UFC LW champion Frankie Edgar

That was BS. If not let's see the numbers. Too difficult to be the highest paid with no PPV's and no PPV %.

Yeah, they are really screwing him, he actually has more guaranteed money in the bellator offer than the UFC offer they 'matched'

No he doesn't. Eddie is guaranteed a PPV which makes the UFC contract worth more.