Not only will Eddie Alarvez be fighting in Bellator for his next fight, his next opponent will be his rival, current Champion, as well as the man to give Alverez a loss, Michael Chandler.
Their first fight was arguably ‘fight of the year,’ in a back and forth war that had Chandler almost finish Alvarez in the first, a close second which most gave to Chandler, and Alvarez coming back in the third, hurting Chandler and almost ending it.The fight left many fans anxious for the day they meet again.
That feeling was intensified by Alveraz’s next fight, where he redeemed himself with a 92 second submission win against Shinya Aoki. Aoki a long time top ten lightweight, whom some consider one of the best grapplers to compete in MMA.
Unfortunately for him, he was knocked out in just 2:14 of the first round, gaining Alvarez the attention of the UFC. Alvarez was next pitted against the always tough Brazilian, Patricky Freire, brother of two time Bellator Title challenger Patricio Freire,
He Dropped Freire just 6 seconds shy of the bell, after a beautiful headkick followed by some devastating ground and pound secured the knockout. With no more fights left on his Bellator contract, many expected Alvarez to sign to the UFC, but Bellator wouldn’t let him go without a fight.
Alvarez, and Bellator both filed lawsuits, in what became a grueling battle. Which left the Chandler rematch in serious doubt, but all of that seems to have finally been settled with this match up. Chandler meanwhile continued his undefeated status with dominations of Former Pride, and UFC vet Akihiro Gono with a 56 second tko.
Followed by a second round submission of the former Judo Olympian, Rick Hawn, and most recently devastated David Rickels with a 44 second knockout. With these wins Chandler has made himself the face of Bellator. Both men expressing interest in the rematch, and both finishing all opponents since it seems to be the perfect match up, as one of the most marketable fights, and seemingly perfect co-main event for Bellator’s first PPV event.
There are a few issues that could happen, first of which is that this is 3 round nontitle fight. The original fight was a 5 round title fight lasting for 4 exciting rounds, which is disappointing, for the one less round of plausible action with how tough both men have proven they are.
The real issue is not the fight itself which if it lasts a minute or 15, will be one to watch. The problem is that it’s happening in this way. If Alvarez loses again, it kills any UFC hopes, which with his skill set, may make him a perennial contender in the tournament format. If he wins Bellator has one more reason to try and force him to stay.
If Chandler wins, he may still have to fight Alvarez many times througout his 8 fight contract. If he lost, though he is still young and could rebound, he would lose his top dog status, and no longer be the poster boy. This fight will always have selling power, regardless of if its for the title or not. It feels as if no matter the outcome of this fight, Bellator will suffer in the long run.