The UFC’s lightweight division is one of the most stacked divisions in MMA and could be adding more talent soon. Current Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez will be consumed by the UFC as soon as Strikeforce ends in January. Melendez isn’t the only top lightweight prospect outside of the UFC though.
Eddie Alvarez, the former Bellator lightweight champion, has received his first official offer from the UFC. Alvarez’s contract officially expired just a few short months ago following his first round knockout victory over Patricio Freire at Bellator 76. Bellator has two weeks to make a counter offer to keep one of the top ranked lightweights in their organization.
CEO Bjorn Rebeny waived the re-signing period so Alvarez could shop around. No one actually figured Bellator would be in a position to offer a competitive deal to the former champion, but according to Rebney they are.
Rebney has always said they would try to match the UFC’s offer if it was in their reach. Now the Bellator CEO says they have seen the terms and are discussing the upside in matching them.
Rebney told MMAJunkie:
“It really becomes for us a mathematical analysis. We know where we would want to be with Ed, we know what kind of a deal structure would work for Bellator and our partners at Spike TV, and we’re just waiting… We’d like to keep him, but it will all boil down to the numbers.”
Alvarez has done nothing but increase interest in other companies since avenging a prior loss to Shinya Aoki earlier this year. Then he went on to finish the heavy-handed Freire in an amazing one rounded war keeping himself on every mma companies radar. Rebney is a great businessman, and we all know he will do everything in his power to do what is best for all parties.
Final Thoughts:
Alvarez is one of the top ranked lightweights in mma, and ranked #7 in my rankings. His talent needs to be showcased inside the octagon, and until Melendez or Alvarez fights top level competition inside the UFC, they will always be “second best” in my opinion.
Watch some impressive highlights from Alvarez’s career in the video below.
Video courtesy of YouTube uploader JGANDY12