Ever since Will Brooks won the interim lightweight title at last month’s Bellator 120, one of the biggest questions in Bellator is who will current lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez face next.
Following the Bellator 120 card, Bellator MMA Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated that the settlement agreement between Bellator and Alvarez calls for his next fight to be against Michael Chandler.
“The reality of the Ed situation is that Ed’s contract specifies that his next fight would be against Michael Chandler,” Rebney told TheMMAReport.com following Bellator 120.
“So Ed now is in a position where he can choose to fight Chandler, and contractually we have to give him the Chandler fight after he beat Chandler the first time. It’s a situation we’ll have to sit down and discuss with Ed, and figure out where it goes, because he’s got paperwork and he’s got a contract that gives him the right to demand the Chandler fight.”
Since Rebney made those comments on May 17th, Alvarez has stated that he wants to face Brooks next since he defeated Chandler for the interim title. However, Alvarez has noted that he has a settlement agreement with Bellator, while Brooks and Chandler actually have contracts with Bellator.
During a pre-fight interview with Rebney for Friday night’s Bellator 121, TheMMAReport.com asked Rebney about the lightweight title picture and if a decision has been made on who Alvarez will face next.
“You will either see Ed fight Mike again or you will see Ed fight Will,” Rebney said on Wednesday. “These are good problems to have. When you have to much depth at 155 and I said this going in to Brooks stepping up to fight Mike on a weeks notice when he was originally had the other fight scheduled on the pay-per-view. We have some unbelievable talented 55’ers here and now you got an over abundance of riches. So those are the two options and the final decision has not been made yet but you can’t go wrong on either one of these fights.”
Rebney’s complete interview with TheMMAReport.com will be played on Friday’s edition of “The MMA Report,” which will be available on RadioInfluence.com, iTunes, and Stitcher.