Previously Planning On Leaving, Eddie Alvarez’ Bellator Future Now Up In The Air

When surprising news broke yesterday that Bjorn Rebney was out as Bellator CEO and replaced by Scott Coker, a lot of uncertainties arose within the promotion.

Perhaps none of them was bigger than the future of Bellator MMA lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who famously had a long and bloody contract dispute with Rebney and Viacom that kept him out of action for most of 2012 and 2013.

Alvarez was forced out of his awaited trilogy match with Michael Chandler at May’s Bellator 120 pay-per-view (PPV), but when he returns from his concussion, his Bellator contract is soon set to expire.

Most thought that the logical choice for Alvarez was to finally make his way to the UFC and face off with the best 155-pound talent in the world. However, Alvarez’ manager Glenn Robinson spoke up to MMA Junkie to declare that isn’t necessarily the case:

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“Before (Coker’s hiring), Eddie definitely wanted to leave. I don’t think that was a secret. After this, we’d have to sit down with him first.”

After ditching Bellator’s long-held tournament format, Coker promised a new and exciting direction for the promotion, although he offered precious little details on just how that would transpire. Regardless, with a more traditional fight model in place, Robinson said Bellator is still shooting for Alvarez vs. Chandler IIII, just like Rebney was before he was ousted:

“What I can tell you is they told us they wanted him to still fight (Michael) Chandler, and they told us it would be sometime in October. Eddie wanted to fight Will Brooks – they said no. Then everything went radio silent, and then the shakeup.”

That shakeup turned the MMA world on its head yesterday, and the full ramifications of it are going to take quite some time to play out. But at the end of the day, Alvarez, despite offering words of support for Rebney on Twitter, was apparently happy about the change, as he had gotten sick of all the difficulties of negotiating with Rebney and his management:

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“Eddie is happy about the shakeup. He wasn’t happy with the way things were being run. I don’t think that’s any secret, so Eddie was very happy to hear there’s been a change in management. Eddie respects Viacom very much, and he’s always told me that.

Everything we requested (from the former management team) down to the littlest thing was always a debate. So we think this is the best for Bellator, and as far as whether he would stay with Bellator long-term or not, until we sit down with Scott, it’s really hard to say.”

Interesting. It sounds like Alvarez will have his date to meet with Coker and discuss where Bellator MMA is headed next, but obviously his path is kind of locked into a third showdown with Chandler. Will Bellator’s best fighter decide to stay after the Rebney roadblock has been removed?

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Photo: USA TODAY Sports