Eddie Alvarez and Bellator will be going to trial over contract dispute

Eddie Alvarez and Bellator have been involved in a legal situation over the past couple of months over whether Bellator did match the contract offer that the former Bellator champion received from the UFC.

Photo courtesy of Bellator
Photo courtesy of Bellator

Alvarez tweeted yesterday that he will be taking his lawsuit against Bellator to trial and will not agree to a settlement.

“We will be going to trial and there will be no settlement,” Alvarez tweeted. “I want to see this thing through and let the truth come out in the end.”

Alvarez did not tweet on when the trial will take place but did say this is a marathon and not a sprint. Bellator MMA Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney told TheMMAReport.com that he doesn’t think a trial date has been set.

“I don’t think so but I think that is a pretty safe assumption that it’s following that legal path at this point and that it will go to trial,” Rebney said.

Over the past couple of months, both sides have met in a courtroom on two occasions with the first court date being at the beginning of the year. At that time, Alvarez was looking to have the judge allow him to fight at UFC 159, but his motion was denied. In their next court appearance, Bellator was looking to have part of Alvarez’s claim be dropped, but that was denied by the judge.

Alvarez believes that the UFC contract that he was offered was not fully matched by Bellator because of the pay-per-view points and other options included in the contract. On the other side, Bellator feels they matched the contract offer even with the pay-per-view points and other options listed in the contract.

In the court of public opinion, people believe that Alvarez is correct in his argument and Bellator needs to let the former lightweight champion take his talents to the UFC.

Ultimately, a judge will decide which side is legally right in their argument and where Alvarez will fight next.