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We addressed it last week, but with Eddie Alvarez and Bjorn Rebney firing shots at one another this week, whose side are you falling on, and do you think a resolution comes in 2013?
SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST
It's hard to know which side is really right in the Alvarez-Bellator battle as far as contract language is concerned, but if you take out whether Bellator actually matched the terms of the contract offered to Alvarez by the UFC, Alvarez fulfilled the fights on his contract, he wants to fight somewhere else, and Bellator wants to stop him. What's not clear to me is why this is the case, but for the sake of this question it doesn't matter. I'm completely on Alvarez's side here. The guy wants to fight on the biggest stage.
Despite Bellator not wanting to be a stepping stone, the reality is that it's what they are. The fact that they use contract language to keep fighters under their thumb (let's not forget that this isn't the first time the promotion has held a fighter hostage) doesn't change the reality of their status as a second tier organization to the UFC. They seem to think that if you force your best fighters (or guys who maybe might become good fighters in the case that they potentially get booked at some point) to stay with them, they become major players. Meanwhile they make fighters wary of signing with them and build up a tyrannical reputation among fans. So yeah, count me among those siding with the fighter in the fighter vs. promotion battle this time.
DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK COLUMNIST
It's hard not to view Bjorn Rebney as anything more than a talking head, just constantly churning out scripted responses from Viacom lawyers. Bellator and their superiors had nothing to gain by publicly rebutting the new claims made by Eddie Alvarez. They would have been better off saying nothing, because they're in a no win situation now in terms of who has more public support.
This is a situation that isn't going to be resolved anytime soon and I can even see it going on beyond 2013. Even if what Alvarez says isn't always the whole truth, it's hard not to feel sorry for someone being denied the chance to make a living whilst in his physical prime.
Alvarez and his team have almost certainly made some very silly mistakes throughout this debacle. Bellator, though, are attracting cautious eyes from fighters already part of their team, and from others who might consider them as future employers. Not a good situation to be in when you're still trying to expand your brand.
C.J. TUTTLE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I'm on neither side. I think at this point both are now just trying to do more harm to the other. Eddie Alvarez should be fighting against top notch competition, but until he does, I don't have much I can analyze since both sides keep lying.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I'm most always going to side with the employee, not the employer. I think Bellator is looking bad and they just need to let Alvarez go. I do think this gets resolved this year, and Alvarez is fighting in the UFC in 2014.
BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
At this point I have to take the side of Eddie Alvarez and his team. Rebney and Bellator look like a tyrannical regime that won't let fighters go, and its not a good look for them. Alvarez deserves to be in the UFC he paid his dues in Bellator and now they're attempting to make him a prisoner. It's not ethically proper in any way shape or form. #FreeAlvarez
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I am 100% on Alvarez's side. For that matter, I am always on the side of the fighters. The promotion can let a fighter go at any time and usually for no reason at all. Rebney is acting like a rich ass and he should let Alvarez enjoy the greener pastures of the UFC. I have said this a few times now, Bellator does not have the PPV bonuses the UFC does. It seems to this simple minded writer, it is a much different way to compensate fighters. Will it be resolved in 2013? No.
CAMERON LYMAN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR
I'm with Alvarez here. There is no way that Bellator can currently match all that would entail a UFC contract. It's a shame that a premier fighter has to remain inactive, so the fans and Alvarez are taking the biggest hit here. Bellator and Viacom can build another star who actually wants to be in their organization. Let the kid go play. I would be surprised if this carried on much past the fall.
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
I understand the validity of the comparisons between MMA and professional wrestling, and I can live with them. But when MMA gets to the place where some of the fights would be better served to be on The Jerry Springer Show, that's when I really want to check out. Simply put, I have not only lost a ton of respect for Bellator, but I've lost a ton of interest in Eddie Alvarez as well. The petulant whining, finger-pointing, and accusations have worn down all interest I have in Alvarez's future. I'm still going to watch him fight, of course. But I certainly have no rooting interest anymore in where that destination will be.
[Eddie Alvarez photo (c) Henry Dziekan III]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
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