Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: UFC on FX 8, Eddie Alvarez vs. Bellator, and Josh Barnett
May 15, 2013 - 10:30:39 AM HYDEN BLOG: UFC on FX 8, Eddie Alvarez vs. Bellator, and Josh Barnett

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

UFC on FX 8 is this Saturday, and the main event features Luke Rockhold against Vitor Belfort. I'm predicting a Rockhold win here, and I think he'll weather the storm early and then grind Belfort down. I've waffled back and forth about how I think Rockhold gets the victory, but I'm thinking he'll earn a decision win. Belfort is always dangerous, though, so Rockhold needs to try to get the win as soon as he can.

Regardless of who wins, I think the winner gets a title shot against UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. The main reason for that is who else would get a shot? The problem is that Silva will defend his belt against Chris Weidman on July 6 and then it looks likely that the UFC would try to put together a Silva vs. Jon Jones fight, so there might be a long wait. I'm not sure if the Rockhold vs. Belfort winner would elect to wait or keep fighting, but they could be sitting out for up to a year if they choose to wait. I think Belfort would choose to wait while Rockhold would keep fighting.

There are two other fights from the UFC on FX 8 card that I'm interested in, the first being Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs. Chris Camozzi. Jacare is making his UFC debut while Camozzi was scheduled to face Rafael Natal on this card, but was pulled to face Souza after Costa Philippou was injured. This should be an interesting fight because of the opponent change. I think Jacare gets the victory by submission here. Camozzi is moving up in competition, and I'm not saying it'll be easy, but Souza should win here.

The other fight I'm interested in is Evan Dunham vs. Rafael dos Anjos. Neither guy is really that close to a title shot, though dos Anjos is on a 3-fight winning streak, but I think this has the potential to be a good fight. I admit I'm reaching a bit here, but this isn't exactly the greatest card ever. That said, it's free so I can't complain too much.

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The Bellator/Eddie Alvarez situation continues on and Bellator and Viacom keep looking worse and worse. I won't go into all the details here as MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Jamie Penick has been covering this from all angles, but Bellator doesn't want to truly match the offer that the UFC has offered to Alvarez. It's a bit more complicated than that so I would suggest that you go and read up on this story if you're interested, but the fact is that Alvarez doesn't want to fight for Bellator anymore. That right there is reason enough to not have the guy fighting in your promotion, why would they want an extremely unhappy employee around?

Alvarez has also provided proof of Bellator trying to pull the old 1-2 switcheroo with his early release letter, specifically regarding language concerning the matching terms that Bellator must adhere to when it comes to a contract that Zuffa would offer him. The situation is more complicated than just this alone, but this doesn't reflect well.

This stuff is just making Bellator look petty. They should just cut bait with Alvarez and let him go. This can only hurt them in the eyes of the other fighters out there, both in Bellator and outside of the company. Just let Alvarez go and reload. It's the next man up mentality. One fighter isn't going to make or break a company. I would expect Alvarez to be fighting in the UFC in 2014, possibly a bit sooner, but these things always seem to take too long to resolve.

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Josh Barnett has said that he'd love to fight in the UFC again, but he needs the right deal. I don't blame him for trying to get as much money as he can, as who doesn't want more money in their life? However, I just hope that Barnett understands his market value. Yes, the UFC heavyweight division is by far the weakest division in the company, but it's not as though Barnett is going to come in and clean house. The best Barnett could legitimately offer the UFC is a gatekeeper role. You don't pay the gatekeeper a lot of money because you can always find more of those guys around.

It's possible that Barnett could make another title run - just look at Mark Hunt - but it's not likely. The UFC isn't going to pay a guy on the backend of his career a ton of money. Again, I don't blame Barnett for trying to get as much money as he can from the UFC, he just needs to be willing to bend a little on his terms in order to get a contract done. I hope he does get a contract done. I would like to see Barnett come into the UFC again.


Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com or you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank