The Bellator business model is that “title shots are earned and not given” and initially, fighters in Bellator had to win a tournament to secure a title shot.
Over the past couple of years, the title shot rules in Bellator have changed as they instituted the championship rematch and tournament champion replacement clause.
Both of those clauses have been used over the past year due to injuries (Doug Marshall, Rafael Silva) and Bellator deciding to do an immediate rematch on a title fight (Chandler/Alvarez, Curran/Straus).
This past weekend at Bellator 120, former lightweight champion Michael Chandler received a title shot after his title rematch against Eddie Alvarez was canceled due to a head injury. Chandler ended up losing a split decision to season nine tournament winner Will Brooks but Chandler may end up facing Alvarez next to the contract Bellator has with Alvarez.
During Rebney’s post fight media scrum, TheMMAReport.com asked him if the organization would consider another change to the title clauses in Bellator that would allow a former champion or tournament winner to receive a title shot at any time.
“Over the years, we have done some evolution in terms of tournament structure, championship rematch clause, and some other things,” Rebney said. “There is always room for a little bit of flexibility in that to give us — especially as we get deeper and deeper. Especially as we get more Will Brooks more Michael Chandler’s, and more Eddie Alvarez’s, who has the belt.”
“Now you are talking about three guys in this organization all of whom belong in the top five in the world and you look at light heavyweight now, and that is getting really deep. It’s surely something we can think about and it’s not a horrible idea.”
If Bellator were to allow any former champion or tournament winner to get a title fight at any time, this would be huge for those fighters. Just think of fights like Patricio Pitbull and Rick Hawn, who have already won two tournaments but were unable to win their title fights.