Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez will not be fighting at UFC 159, and could be spending more time in a courtroom than training for his octagon debut.
The fighter and his team of lawyers had filed an injunction in hopes of allowing the fighter to participate on the upcoming UFC PPV event. However, a New Jersey judge ruled in favor of the Bellator MMA promotion that Alvarez wouldn’t would be irreparably harmed by not signing the deal.
Alvarez completed his Bellator contract in October 2012 and was bound to negotiate exclusively with the promotion for 90 days. However, the promotion waived the period to expedite the process so the fighter could receive an offer from Zuffa/UFC. Bellator reportedly matched the deal, but Alvarez refused to sign the deal because he didn’t feel the offers were equal.
Bellator MMA and Alvarez filed suit against one another which included the injunction on the behalf of Alvarez to fight on the UFC 159 card.
The key points were about PPV and TV deals between Spike TV and FOX in which the judge felt that no decision could be made based on the evidence provided. That resulted in the injunction for Alvarez to fight at UFC 159 to be denied.
It looks like this will be a case of ongoing litigation, but could ultimately be either a huge win or a huge loss for Bellator regarding future contracts with their fighters.
Stay tuned to ProMMAnow (www.prommanow.com) for more coverage of this case.
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