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Eddie Alvarez: If I was in the UFC, I’d just be another disposable fighter

By Zach Arnold | April 4, 2011

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After a horrible debut show on MTV2 to start their new season, Bellator has found its footing and has produced some shows featuring fights that have had some very memorable finishes. Last Saturday’s show was no exception when Patricky Pitbull hit a stunning knee strike on Toby Imada. Thankfully Toby is OK, but that knee strike was something that Patricky’s late manager Ivan Canello would have been proud to see.

The main event of Saturday’s show featured Eddie Alvarez beating Pat Curran by unanimous decision to retain his Lightweight title. The fight was not pretty to watch, but Mr. Alvarez played it smart and did some damage to Curran who hung around and survived. It wasn’t an exciting fight to watch, however. At the beginning of the fight, fans were chanting “Eddie! Eddie!” By the end, there was booing.

With Strikeforce fighters now under the Zuffa banner, the amount of competition remaining for Eddie Alvarez has thinned out. Things fell through when Bellator and Strikeforce never seriously got to the table about doing some co-promotional fights. So, we won’t be seeing Alvarez vs. Gilbert Melendez any time soon. (Melendez will fight Crusher Kawajiri this Saturday in San Diego on Showtime.) Outside of the Pitbull family, who is left right now for Alvarez that poses a serious threat that isn’t under contract to UFC?

Eddie recently did an interview with Josh Gross (audio here) and made some very blunt, candid statements about where his career is at and how he would react should circumstances change. He was asked about where he felt his standing was in the MMA landscape with guys like Gilbert Melendez now under the Zuffa banner.

“It means I’m still somewhat in-disposable. If I was among that group, I’d be disposable immediately the day that my contract was taken over by Zuffa, so… I feel like I still can have some sort of say with where my career goes and what sponsors I want to get and whether I want to be in a video game or not. There’s a lot of things. The whole signing with Zuffa thing is a big control issue with me and I don’t know, I just… I’m happy that they’re doing what they’re doing but right now I don’t know if it’s the right move for me.”

Mr. Alvarez tried to walk a fine line but remain honest about his feelings regarding the UFC.

“I don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. I think they’re running their business the way they are supposed to. But my issue with it is the way fighters lose one or two fights and they’re fired and, not only that, there is no like, it’s not like a union like the NFL, the NBA, and these other sports where the finances are regulated and you have to receive a minimum in order to be a part of that league. Like NFL, I don’t know, maybe you have to receive half a million dollars per year just to play in the NFL or maybe a quarter of a million. The UFC’s not like that. They can offer someone, you know, $5,000 and $5,000, the guy can fight at first and get his face broken to pieces and then he can totally put on a poor performance and then get fired. That scares me. I would like to be paid like an athlete and, I don’t know. I guess I have a lot of issues with it and when I was, I believe when I was ranked #2 in the world, I was offered something from the UFC but it was significantly lower than what I was getting paid at that time, almost like insultingly low and I just, it wasn’t the right move for me at that time. I have no qualms, I like the UFC, Dana White does a great job with them and they’re definitely the biggest stage on Earth. And if I fight there some day, then great, but right now I think I’m where I’m supposed to be at.”

He says that he remain honest with his public comments about UFC and that if he has to fight in the UFC down the road, they probably won’t hurt him politically.

“No, I think Dana realizes, you know, the type of person I am and he’s seen me fight and I think he knows, you know, I don’t take anything he says or doesn’t say about me to heart. He’s been in a number of interviews where he discredits my abilities and I understand why. I’m not mad at him. I’m not mad at him about it, I understand why he would discredit anything that I do. I don’t work for him. But, you know, this is a business, man, so I mean I don’t expect him to get emotional and say, ‘Let’s never hire this kid because whatever.’ I don’t badmouth the UFC, it’s just not the right move for me right now.”

The Bellator Lightweight champ says that when it comes to fighting, he would like to fight the best but he also has to weigh his financial obligations and make the best business decision.

“It would be great to fight them guys but at what cost, you know what I mean? At what cost to me? Do I have to, what measures do I have to take in order to fight them guys? Do I have to take an $80,000 pay cut? Do I have give up all my, every single ancillary right I can dream of? Do I have to, you know, now I can’t get certain sponsors that I want to get certain sponsors that I want to get because I have to pay the UFC before they pay me? There’s a lot of issues involved and I don’t know if people understand that. And if I was 20 years old and I was single and I had no kids, I would jump to the UFC tomorrow. But the reality is (that) I have three kids and I have a family to take care of and everything has to line up. Yeah, I want to be #1 in the world but I also want to be able to maintain a home for my family so I can’t tell my wife and kids, ‘hey, Daddy’s going to take a huge risk and this may not work and hopefully we do well.’ Like, I can’t tell my kids that. I got to tell them that I’m going to work hard and I’m going to get compensated correctly for my hard work and that’s all I really ask for.”

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 55 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

55 Responses to “Eddie Alvarez: If I was in the UFC, I’d just be another disposable fighter”

  1. Tommy says:

    Smart, honest & candid statements from a fighter’s perspective. You have to respect that. Despite media and fan prodding sounds like Alvarez doesn’t need the UFC as much as the public would like to think or portray it as such.

    I watched all five rounds of Alvarez vs Curran with the TV on mute and tweeting on my phone between rounds. I didn’t think it was a boring fight and it wasn’t competitive because EA is just a head and shoulders above anyone on the BFC roster right now.

    I did find the fight interesting because you kept waiting to see if Alvarez could finish Curran or if Curran could land that one crushing right hand that could possibly put Alvarez in deep waters.

  2. Paradoxx says:

    Yes, he’d be another disposable fighter cause he’d have an average win-loss record.

  3. edub says:

    Eddie’s smart. Nothing wrong with anything he said. If I was his publicist I would tell him Perfect interview.

  4. Jonathan says:

    Probably the most honest interview I have seen a fighter give in a long time.

  5. EJ says:

    Actually if he was being honest he’d say the real reason he doesn’t want to come to the UFC it’s because he’d be exposed as just another LW.

    You see it’s real easy to talk big and fight no name guys you can beat up but if you come to the UFC you actually have to face top guys. Alvarez showing against Curran was pathetic and the only thing that was clear is that he has no business being in the top top rankings.

    Alvarez has basically become the LW version of Nick Diaz fighting guys who he’s much better than and protecting his record by not fighting the best.

    Facts are if Eddie really thought he could be the best he’d be in the UFC and making alot more money and having all the fame and props that comes with that. But instead he comes accross as a bitter and angry guy who basically was blocked out of his only big payday against Melendez and is SOL. No wonder he’s mouthing off against Zuffa and how unfair they would be to him since he knows that in the UFC he’d be just another guy and right now he stuck in a C league org where he’s irrelevant.

    • klown says:

      … same old post from EJ about non-Zuffa fighters.

    • Jonathan says:

      Actually EJ, I read that interview and I got the message that he was saying that…that he would not fare as well in the UFC as well as he has in Bellator. That was the honesty I was referring to.

      No need to bash the guy.

    • The Gaijin says:

      Gotta love the Eddie hate…he dominated a very game figher in Pat Curran. Unfortunately, Curran wanted nothing to do with actually fighting Eddie. It’s hard to finish and look good against a fighter that is fighting not to lose, on his bike and not engaging. Eddie showed some sizzling striking (as usual), with some really great body work, but I’m not sure what you guys would like him to do short of killing Curran in that fight?

      I’ll even disagree that his win over Crusher is his best win. Imo, his win over Huerta was the most meaningful on his record. Current #1 contender Lay Praynard eked out a win over Roger, KenFlo won a well fought UD and Roger finished another “in the mix” LW in Guida. Meanwhile Alvarez ran a train on him in dominating fashion and is the only “big league” opponent to finish Huerta. Alvarez has the speed, offensive striking and wrestling to hang with the best in the LW division…against a waterbug like Edgar he’s got the size, striking and wrestling to punish him, against a plodder like Maynard he’s got the speed and defensive wrestling to torch him on the feet. My only negative on Eddie is that he really, really needs to tighten up his striking defense, but other than someone like Melvin Guillard I don’t really see a lot of fighters that are going to make him pay for it.

      Who deserves to be above him? Jim Miller? G-Sot (the most overrated fighter at LW)? Bendo? Pettis? Siver? Guida? Sherk?

      I’ll further disagree that people will prop Alvarez up in the rankings, in fact, the Curran fight showed me that he’s probably going to fall in the rankings (relative to his talents at LW) because he’s not going to face the “name” fighters people want him to, and unless he absolutely nukes guys he’ll get criticized.

      • edub says:

        “I’ll even disagree that his win over Crusher is his best win. Imo, his win over Huerta was the most meaningful on his record. Current #1 contender Lay Praynard eked out a win over Roger, KenFlo won a well fought UD and Roger finished another “in the mix” LW in Guida. Meanwhile Alvarez ran a train on him in dominating fashion and is the only “big league” opponent to finish Huerta. Alvarez has the speed, offensive striking and wrestling to hang with the best in the LW division…against a waterbug like Edgar he’s got the size, striking and wrestling to punish him, against a plodder like Maynard he’s got the speed and defensive wrestling to torch him on the feet. My only negative on Eddie is that he really, really needs to tighten up his striking defense, but other than someone like Melvin Guillard I don’t really see a lot of fighters that are going to make him pay for it.”

        -Gray dominated Roger most of their fight. The fact that a judge actually saw that fight for Roger is appalling, and is just another example of ho poor judging can be in MMA.
        -Roger finished an in the mix Clay Guida after getting torn up for two rounds. He then lost 3 out of his next four fights to two great contenders, and one undersized prospect/gatekeeper. Those losses (especially the one to Curran) knocked him out of the top ten and probably the top 15.
        -Styles make fights. Eddie is better than Roger in every area and had the game to finish him. Just because he finished him and Roger didn’t tap when Gray twisted his arm behind his head, doesn’t mean Eddie is better than Gray. The way Eddie was dominated by Thompson (eventhough it was a few years ago now), would lead me to favor Gray if they ever fought. I mean who has Eddie proved his defensive wrestling against? Kawajiri? Roger Huerta? Toby Imada?
        -Hes got the size, striking, and wrestling to beat Edgar? A guy that outstruck BJ Penn, and out wrestled Gray Maynard? You sure you don’t want to rethink that one? Aren’t you the same guy who’s made a living on betting on guys who made there name fighting in Japan!?!

        I have Eddie at 5, and that probably won’t change unless Pettis gets though Guida and the Gray-Edgar winner. My top four as of this moment are Franke, Gray, Gilbert, and Aoki. Eddie doesn’t have a good enough argument for being ahead of those 4 IMHO.

        People all over the internet especially on Junkie and lowkick where I frequent have started to push Eddie ever since SF was bought by Zuffa. There is a sector of the MMA fanbase that still wants to prop up anything outside of Zuffa. And the recent articles and interviews of him saying things like “Zuffa fighters are just marketed better” and things of that ilk have pushed even more people to support him. They do not frequent this site much at all, but they do exist. Think of them as the bizzaro EJ if that helps (although I believe EJ has been making better points lately, not counting this particular thread).

        • The Gaijin says:

          I will point out that I have been on the Eddie train since he was in BoDog…not “clinging to his nuts” as some last vestige of UFC hate or whatever stupid reason people want to use to devalue the argument.

          Just a quick drive-by on points you made, as I have a hard time strongly disagreeing with anything you’ve said as they’re your opinion.

          – I scored the fight for Maynard (29-28) but he hardly looked spectacular in there and it was a typical Maynard grinder outside of the out-of-character sub attempt
          – Yes styles make fights, but the point is that Huerta is the common thread, one of the few, and we all saw what he did to him.

          – Equating the Nick Thompson fight to a blueprint for Maynard is a pretty giant leap. The Goat is a pretty massive WW (didn’t he fight at MW too?), the ENTIRE fight was on the feet with the exception of Eddie scoring a takedown and imo Alvarez was winning the fight up until he got dropped. Alvarez is a pretty big LW since he’s cutting from WW, so Maynard’s size advantage isn’t going to be (a) anywhere near Thompson’s (who is also 6’1 with a big reach) or (b) what he’s used to with other LWs…and he’s not too likely to win a stand-up fight with Alvarez either.

          – No I don’t really want to rethink my comments on Edgar b/c Alvarez is a really big LW with speed and good wrestling. Edgar won’t have the big speed/scrambling advantage that he had against Maynard in that department. Edgar won’t be able to pull his cutesy busy bee striking with Alvarez either, and if he gets a hurt put on him like he did with Maynard, Alvarez actually possesses the tools and finishing instinct to finish the job.

          – I don’t really consider Alvarez to be a guy that made his name in Japan. He fought stateside before Japan, he’s been fighting stateside for 2 years now and he possesses a good wrestling game. Those Japanese stars came over and lost to the likes of Neer and Huerta, got put on their back and had no scrambling ability and were not versed in working in the cage environment.

          And again, I’ve said it before and if I didn’t say it this time I will now, Alvarez has the tools to beat these guys and deserves to be ranked amongst the top 5. Whether he beats them or not is another story because the top 5 all possess the ability to beat each other on any given night.

        • edub says:

          Some counterpoints:

          -But his biggest wins, and his subsequent climb up the rankings took place in Japan, right? I mean he didn’t jump into the top 5 from beating Roger Huerta, Josh Neer, and Toby Imada. So wouldn’t that be akin to making his name in Japan?

          -Shinya Aoki is the common thread between Gilbert and Eddie. Shinya tapped Eddie in a minute while Gilbert dominated. Does that mean that Gilbert would destroy Eddie if they fought head to head? Because that’s the same logic you’re using comparing Maynard and Eddie.

          -Edgar will have a bigger edge in wrestling, and scrambling over Alvarez than he did with Maynard. Eddie’s wrestling is no where near Maynard’s. Maynard had some pretty good finishing instinct. He dropped him 5 times in a round. Edgar just survived. If Roger Huerta was able to land a takedown on Eddie, than I’d say it’s a pretty good possibility that Frankie has the wrestling advantage.

          -Gray’s actually bigger than Eddie. Eddie fought at ww cutting no weight at all. He is a big LW, but Maynard could very well be the biggest (not counting the giant that is Gleison Tibau). Reports for the Edgar fight were placing Gray almost at 180 lbs.

          -I thought Josh beat him up on the ground leading up to when he dropped Eddie in their fight? My bad, you’re right than that comparison didn’t make sense.

          I do have Eddie in my top 5. I think he would give trouble to Melendez, and really anybody else. However, I think were just seeing a different ceiling for him.

          Also, let me point out again that I have no problem with what he’s doing. I may disagree with a few things he says to the media, but he’s got the right mindset going. Everything he is doing is with the end goal being financial stability for his family. You can’t be a rational person, and disagree with that at the same time.

        • The Gaijin says:

          1. Ah, I see your point there. I guess my rationale with him was that, while he had the “buzz” and “looked like an elite LW”, I would reserve judgement until he fought a “UFC-caliber” fighter (e.g. remove the Japan bias) and won. Once he put away Neer and Huerta in the fashion he did, I felt it solidified the earlier assessments.

          2. Totally, totally blanked on Aoki. Yeah that is kind of a pin in the whole balloon there…I dunno, I guess Aoki in a ring in Japan, grappling pants…I got nothing. I think he’d smash him stateside in the cage, but we don’t really need a hypothetical if they’ve fought.

          3. As for the Edgar/Maynard/Alvarez triangle – I guess I just see that Eddie has the size advantage that Maynard had (though not as big as Gray) over Frankie without giving up huge speed that was there. And I think that Eddie’s far superior stand-up, combined with defensive wrestling will give him windows that Maynard may not have had being primarily a takedown and control guy. And maybe I just wasn’t clear – but I don’t think Alvarez “has the wrestling to beat Edgar”, clearly that’s idiotic and he has nowhere near the wrestling skills – my take was that those three things together would be how I saw the opportunities/advantages arise for Eddie…but no, there’s no way in hell he’s got better wrestling, ever.

          4. Agreed Maynard is bigger, was just saying Alvarez is not giving up the huge amounts of size other guys were giving Gray and they’re operating at about the same reach as well. Gray did drop Frankie a number of times, but he just turned into a tunnel-visioned headhunter…I bet you would have seen someone with the finishing abilities of Alvarez use the opportunity to go to the body to really open him up. Gray has also finished, I believe, one fight his entire career, not counting the time he KOd himself…so while he may have some finishing instincts, he is not much of a finisher.

          5. I agree – I think we’re just slotting him at different points on the spectrum. Maybe I’m shooting a little higher than I should be since I really like the guy, as you said, maybe I should be taking my own gambling advice. 🙂

        • edub says:

          – I can agree on the “tunnel vision” assesment. The way Eddie boxes he probably would have been able to mix it up more while trying to finish Edgar instead of doing what Gray did (which was pretty much just swing for the head).

          – I can also agree that since the style matchup is different where Edgar-Alvarez would be concerned (compared to Gray-Frankie) that Eddie could possibly use his hips more effectively to create openings. I’m just really high on the Edgar bandwagon right now.

          All in good fun!

  6. Joey says:

    Whether one thinks he can win or is certain he’d get stomped is basically irrelevant. All that matters is that he can make more outside the UFC, so that’s what he should do.

    That’s not to say that there aren’t more lucrative paydays in the UFC, he would have to win and win big. It’s risky and he made a business decision. No fault in that.

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    1) He has bragged in multiple interviews about how much he is paid. Yet the company that is paying him is losing money. So he isn’t worth the money he is being paid. And if you noticed the reaction he got at his last Bellator fight, it wasn’t one of a guy who should be getting anywhere close to $100,000 per fight. He has no fanbase. No way to make a company money.

    2) The former Strikeforce fanboys are hanging hard onto his nuts. He is basically all they have left. And they are hanging on the nuts of a guy who’s biggest win is against Tatsuya Kawajiri almost 3 years ago. Slim pickings for that subset of desperate fans.

    3) He is questioning what rights he has to give away by signing with Zuffa? And yet he has already signed a Bellator contract which is far more restrictive. Did anybody else find that funny?

    4) If a fighter REALLY believes he is the best in the world, he will fight in the UFC. Because there is more money to be made there then anywhere else. Alvarez deep down doesn’t believe in himself.

    5) “I would like to be paid like an athlete” & “But the reality is (that) I have three kids and I have a family to take care of and everything has to line up.” – First, most athletes don’t get paid much at all. Second, if you are worried about supporting your family and having stability, then sports is the wrong profession for you.

    Being a big fish in a small pond is fine. But when that pond is about to dry up…. It’s not a good position to be in. I think he is talking more out of fear at this point. I think deep down he knows he has been able to support his family on better then average pay and less then average opponents. And when Bellator is done, he will be forced to sign with Zuffa because it would be career suicide to do anything else. And he knows he will lose. Because everybody does. And then he is just like everybody else.

    It is impossible to fight for Bellator and making yourself indisposable.

    • smoogy says:

      Leave it to ol’ 45 “UFC doesn’t release peak ratings” Huddle to start off with the completely wrong assertion that Alvarez, a Philly fighter, has no fans because he didn’t blow the roof off in Conneticut at a show Bellator did their usual poor job of promoting. Anyone who has seen him fight in Philly knows he has a loyal following of meatheads.

      “The former Strikeforce fanboys are hanging hard onto his nuts. He is basically all they have left.”

      Former Strikeforce fanboys? So people are going to stop watching it because Zuffa bought them? You’ve cooked up quite the imaginary enemy for your vitriol.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        So they have to put on Alvarez fights on in Philly to get a reaction out of the crowd? Nobody in Bellator is known by anybody outside of the real hardcore fanbase.

        Who said people would stop watching Strikeforce?

        But there is a small sub section of hardcore fans who pumped SF up beyond realty. And now they are trying to find anything else that is not Zuffa to push like it’s more important then it realy is. Alvarez is one of their annointed fighters now.

        • Jonathan says:

          What are you talking about 45?

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Here is an example….

          http://www.bloodyelbow.com/rankings

          8 Bellator Fighters increased rankings from the previous month. 1 stayed the same. And one went down.

          There is already a push from the same fanbase and writers who overly hyped up Strikeforce…. That they are now pushing Bellator far beyond what they deserve.

          Which is why you see so much more talk about a guy like Eddie Alvarez lately. He is the poster boy for Bellator right now. It’s the same company that is getting around 200,000 viewers weekly…. But that’s not stopping these people to still hype up mediocre, IFL level talent (overall), as being more important then it really is….

        • Jonathan says:

          45,

          I don’t know where you are getting this idea that people are pushing Bellator. Certainly not on this site….as I have seen no one say “Man, Bellator is WAY better than the UFC.”

          I think you are just looking for imaginary things to get pissed about.

        • smoogy says:

          Your paranoia that people might actually like fighters who aren’t in the UFC is pretty bizarre.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Paranoia? The facts I gave with the rankings are legit.

          And it’s about wanting to see the MMA Media have a realistic view of the sport instead if constantly trying to hype up organizations to push their own agenda. In which there is a long storied history of happening.

        • The Gaijin says:

          “Which is why you see so much more talk about a guy like Eddie Alvarez lately.”

          Uhhh because he had a title fight this weekend and there was nothing else on? Like it or lump it he’s one of a handful of fighter outside the Zuffa umbrella that are worth following and talking about (by my count there’s Lombard, Askren, Eddie, Warren and Hioki – and to a lesser extent Sandro and the Pitbulls, that’s literally it right now) and he’s a legitimately elite talent at LW. Since there was literally nothing else on worth talking about last week leading up to the fight and this weekend, MAYBE the MMA media was, ya know, doing their job by following a live mma event? I know, preeeeetty crazy.

        • nottheface says:

          Wow, it’s true 8 fighters from Bellator rose in the rankings since last time. Obviously there is a deep bias by certain members of the MMA community and the fact that two fighters fell in the ranking (including Eddie Alvarez the main benefactor of this bias) as well as the fact that the Lombard, Hieron, Reis, and Freire all recently won played no part in these new rankings.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Those guys didn’t beat anybody that should have increased their rankings. Not one of them beat a higher ranked fighter.

          Nice try, but just merely winning shouldn’t increase a fighters rankings.

          So there is a bias.

        • nottheface says:

          “Alvarez is one of their annointed fighters now.”

          According to the BE rankings Alvarez fell from #4 to #6. The anti-Zuffa forces are really rallying behind their anointed fighter.

          And WIlson Reis jumped up because he beat Deividas Taurosevi?ius, who was previously ranked, while Jay Hieron probably jumped up because he hadn’t fought in awhile and was beginning to get dropped from rankings. His win allowed him to be listed by more voters giving him a bounce.
          or the voters hate Zuffa. One of the two.

        • Zheroen says:

          I guess it has nothing to do with the fact that Alvarez is 28-2, on a seven-fight win streak, and holds a recent victory over a fighter challenging for the ZUFFA-OWNED Strikeforce LW belt this weekend.

          Nah, it’s a CONSPIRACY!!!!!

        • The Gaijin says:

          Just have to point out the obvious UFC-bias in the rankings by highlighting the rankings submitted by Derek Suboticki, and then laugh my ass off at the anti-UFC forces:

          1. Edgar
          2. Maynard
          3. JIM MILLER
          4. Melendez
          5. DENIS SIVER
          6. GEORGE SOTIROPOULOS
          7. KENNY FLORIAN
          8. SEAN SHERK
          9. MELVIN GUILLARD
          10. Aoki
          11. GLEISON TIBAU
          12. CLAY GUIDA
          13. Alvarez
          14. ANTHONY PETTIS
          15. GOMI

          What a clueless putz. Those agenda whoring anti-Zuffa conspirators!

        • edub says:

          I am a fan of Jim Miller, but I really don’t get this idea that he should be in the top 5. His biggest win was either Gleison Tibau or Mark Bocek (and frankly I scored their fight for Bocek).

          I think he has great upside and everything I just don’t see the hype that has been created.

        • edub says:

          Damn, those really are terrible rankings.

      • David M says:

        “4) If a fighter REALLY believes he is the best in the world, he will fight in the UFC. Because there is more money to be made there then anywhere else. Alvarez deep down doesn’t believe in himself.”

        You are such a piece of work. Do you think Eddie is lying about having kids? Do you think he really owes it to you to fight in the UFC when he can make way more fighting in Bellator? Fight game is about making as much money as you can; this is a job. It is easy for you to talk shit and say he is a coward for not testing himself against the best because you aren’t in his shoes. Do you really think Eddie is like “well, UFC jock-sniffers online think I’m a coward for not fighting in the UFC, so to hell with mortgage payments and health insurance, I am going to willingly take a huge pay cut to show I’m the best!” Get real.

  8. Chromium says:

    “1) He has bragged in multiple interviews about how much he is paid. Yet the company that is paying him is losing money.”

    Excuse me? I wasn’t aware that Eddie Alvarez’s portion of Bellator’s payroll was exactly proportional to his drawing power.

    Ben Askren, Zack Makovsky, and Cole Konrad all get paid the same Alvarez is getting paid and none of them are the star that Alvarez is. Look to them if you wanna talk about people in Bellator who are proportionately overpaid (actually the promotion would have been losing money last year even their payroll was zero, but that’s not the fighters’ faults).

    If you’re gonna bash Alvarez at least stick to logic. And I’m easily more pro-UFC than pro-Bellator.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      How can anybody be getting paid $100,000 a win when they have no drawing power and their company is losing money? It just doesn’t make sense.

      Not all champions make the same amount in Bellator.

    • smoogy says:

      Actually, Alvarez is the highest paid fighter in Bellator and is said to make significantly more than anyone else.

  9. 45 Huddle says:

    174,000 viewers for Bellator. Not looking good. This was their biggest card of the year so far. Looks like some people checked the show out for the first few weeks and never returned.

    • The Gaijin says:

      Uh the show achieved it’s third highest rating and improved on the last two, which is a good thing given those shows were kinda sh*te and the timeslots jumped around…and it went “head-to-head” against the Final Four. Yes it was probably their biggest ‘show’ because Alvarez was on it, but again, the Final Four sucked most of the oxygen up in terms of sports/casual sports fans. Not to mention the numbers they are pulling in are somewhere around double what they were pulling in for previous programming.

      Not sure what you want from a niche promotion here…other than to cheerlead its death for whatever bizarre reason. ZOMG! They’re unfairly taking a UFC fighter’s rightful 13th place ranking at MW – this is a travesty!!!!!!!!!!

      • The Gaijin says:

        Again, I have to reiterate how bizarre I find it that so-called “mma fans” are cheerleading the demise of a niche promotion that will most likely act as a feeder league to the UFC and provide jobs to prospects and guys in need of a makeover.

        Like who are they robbing Zuffa from having right now? They’re mainly using castoffs and building up prospects with the exception of Alvarez and Lombard, and they need a few guys to give them some credibility beyond Taichi Palace Fighting. Once someone is looking like a viable challenger/new blood to fight their counterpart in Zuffaland, do you really think they won’t be able to make a deal with Bjorn to buy out his contract? Isn’t it only fair that Bellator would get something for building up a prospect as someone fans want to see fight their champion?

        45 and others talk a big game about the necessity/desire to have a feeder league promotion, but apparently think they should do it out of the goodness of their own heart and bend over on command. If they invest the time, resources and card space to build up guys I see no issue with them incentivizing the process to make something on the back end.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        Calling it the 3rd biggest show when they have only had 5 is comical.

        This show had a title fight with their biggest star. It had Ben Saunders on it who has some name recognition from the UFC. Lyman Good is their former Welterweight Champion. It doesn’t get much more stacked for a Bellator card. And it had no competition from MMA. Which really is the biggest thing. This was their regular time slot with no Strikeforce or UFC to compete with it.

        I was expecting it to at least match their season best. Probably do around 250,000. The fact is that people came for the first 2 shows and have not returned since. 200,000 fans should have been a building block for the future. Not something they are now struggling to get back to.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Calling it their third best rating is a FACT. And their whole scheduling ridiculousness has obviously hurt them, but they’ve improved on the previous two shows, that is also a FACT.

          Nice strawman arguments by the way…Lyman Good AND Ben Saunders?!?!? THE “Former season 1 WW champion who successfully defended his belt zero times” Lyman Good with all that exposure on ESPN Desportes and one of THE army of interchangable guys that got cut from the UFC! SMELL THE RATINGS.

          These guys *might* mean something for selling tickets to a regional show in the mid-west, but they are not going to draw ONE viewer to MTV2…get real.

          FINAL. FOUR.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          That Final Four was so popular that Dancing With The Stars got higher ratings then the finals. I know that game was Monday, but it just shows its not exactly the huge thing you are trying to claim it is. Want to find a different excuse?

          Bellator just isn’t doing very good. The UFC has gone up against the World Series before. There will always be competition of some sort.

          Bellator had their best chance this weekend. No MMA competition. One of their best cards. You might not think Ben Saunders is a draw…. But he is more recognizable then basically everyone else they have. Which is the point here. Saturdays will always be tough, but this was one of their best Saturday opportunities.

          And they failed miserably.

        • The Gaijin says:

          “That Final Four was so popular that Dancing With The Stars got higher ratings then the finals. I know that game was Monday, but it just shows its not exactly the huge thing you are trying to claim it is. Want to find a different excuse?”

          Yeah, DWTS and the ol’ Final Four, such a conflict for the target demographics isn’t it with the insane crossover of viewership? That is seriously some straight up retarded logic bud.

          Final Four is wheelhouse for 99% of sports fans in the U.S. – from the diehard college supporters to fratboys to the most casual of casual sports fans who participate in the office pool. Seems like there’s a pretty decent overlap for that and mma fans does it not?

          DWTS caters to housewives, old people and gays, not to mention there was literally no ‘new’ scripted tv running Monday night, other than DWTS…how did they manage to get such a good rating when the Final Four was on?!!?

          I could go into a treatise on other reasons why Saturday night is not a good night, but going up against the Final Four while on MTV2 is a big reason why what looked like their best card on paper did not draw as expected.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Seriously, the funny thing is that I’m not even here to defend the honor of Bellator. I could really care less if they get 250,000 viewers or not. But you seem to feel the need to blow up this issue of “I predicted they would get 250k viewers (based on little factual evidence to support this number) and THEY BLEW IT!! They totally did not meet this stupid number I yanked out of my a** without taking into account a number of other factors – WOW DO THEY SUCK!”

          For someone who talked about the online mma fans having a hard time coming to grips with realities after the SF buyout you seem to be one of those people that wants to manufacture stupid things to get excited over.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          230,000 viewers for a first round of a lightweight tournament.

          Thinking this show would do 250,000 is prett sound reasoning.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Yup…makes sense to predict that number given:

          – the universal critcism that they have confused their audience by switching timeslots around for pretty much every program;

          – they were up against the “prime” game of the Final Four; and

          – their ratings have gone down considerably show over show and 250k is approx. 30+% higher than their overall average viewership and about 60% higher than their last two shows.

          Sound, sound reasoning.

  10. Zack says:

    LOL @ thinking there is a Bellator bias in the media

  11. Zheroen says:

    LOL, didn’t 45 Huddle or EJ (more or less the same Zuffa-drone who launches Strawmen and ad-hominem attacks at will) just defend the recent UFC show as doing poorly ratings-wise as due to the NCAA tournament being aired…but when Bellator does FUCKING MEDIOCRE (not even good…which makes the desperation to discredit them all the more strange), despite the FINAL FOUR airing, basketball is a non-factor that couldn’t have possibly influenced the ratings?

    Why can’t you let a non-critical story involving a non-Zuffa MMA fighter or organization go without freaking out with paranoid conspiracies about anti-UFC media bias? What is your problem?

    • The Gaijin says:

      But, but…Dancing With The Stars did awesome ratings , so clearly the Final Four isn’t that powerful of an influence! Oh, but let’s not forget to ignore that virtually every other network program was a re-run and that their audiences have almost no crossover whatsoever. Yup, NCAA – not a factor.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      You are right. You got me!

      I would only be right if there were slight differences in the examples….. Hmmmm….

      1) UFC 128 was competing against 4 channels of basketball at tue same time. Bellator was competing against one game.

      2) UFC was asking for people to pay $50 to see their event. Bellator was on free TV.

      3) UFC lost probably about 10% of potential PPV buys due to to tournament. Bellator drew 30% less fans for a LW title fight compared to regular LW tournament fights. Fans just never came back after the first few shows.

      You are comparings apples to oranges here in both what kind of MMA was offered and what type of other programming was on during te time.

      Nice try…..

      Every week can be an excuse for Bellator. Next week will be SF. Eventually the execuses mean nothing and the results just look poor.

      • The Gaijin says:

        Yet again the village idiot arguing with a guy saying the ratings are mediocre by telling him how mediocre the ratings were using his 12-step process!

        Huzzah – applause for your intricately detailed analysis of coming to the conclusion that mediocre ratings were indeed mediocre. But you’ve added the extra step of including your overly optimistic/strawman ratings prediction to really drive home how mediocre they were. YAYYY…niche promotion on second rate cable channel gets bad ratings!!…we have exposed them as…a niche promotion!

      • Zheroen says:

        4 channels of regional/early round action > The Final Four. Yeah, that makes A WORLD of sense.

        Hey 45, no one is saying Bellator’s ratings were good. What everyone IS disputing is your idiotic assertion that Dancing With the Stars draws more eyes from MMA’s demographic than the Final Four. Do you even grasp the concept that the Final Four matchups are more important than the regional ones that you cite as a perfectly justifiable reason as to why a UFC PPV drew less, ergo they would be even more of a siphon on what ratings (shitty as though they may be) Bellator would have drawn in ideal circumstances?

        You are so driven and determined to discredit anything that isn’t the UFC that you can’t even allow a NEUTRAL word to be said about a competing promotion before you start frothing at the mouth. And you have the nerve to call anyone else a fanboy…

  12. The Gaijin says:

    I wanna know what happened to edub’s comment(s)!

  13. Bill says:

    I think the UFC puts so much money and makes so much money off of the their main stable of fighters/champions. That having Philly fighter like Alverez ( and I say Philly Fighter with the most respect, but having a fighter like Alverez wipe the floor with their stable of talent would just make them look bad and that’s something they truly do not want.

    And while Eddie in the UFC would be great to see, I enjoy watching Eddie steal the spotlight from the UFC and shine it on other MMA promotions like Belator

  14. Bill says:

    EJ, if you actually watched an Alverez fight you’d know exactly what he is – the real deal.

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