Dana White Tells Bellator to Pay Eddie Alvarez What He's Worth

Eddie Alvarez

UFC president Dana White tells Bellator to pay Eddie Alvarez what he’s worth.

Eddie Alvarez is currently entangled in a contract dispute with Bellator MMA. The lightweight fighter wants to leave the organization to fight in the UFC. When his contract was up with Bellator, the UFC made Alvarez an offer. Bellator had the right to match that offer and they did, but Alvarez maintains that the Bellator offer doesn’t truly match what the UFC deal could potentially pay him.

Alvarez sought an injunction against Bellator that would have allowed him to fight in the UFC on the April 27 UFC 159 event at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Although U.S. District Court Judge Jose L. Linares wrote in his decision that “the Court recognizes that the differences between Fox Network Television and Spike TV may be such that the Court (or a jury) would ultimately find that Alvarez should prevail on his counterclaim because of Bellator’s failure to match Zuffa’s contract,” Alvarez's injunction was denied.

Dana White discussed the Alvarez situation with the media following UFC on Fuel TV 7 on Feb. 16.

“(Bellator) have the right to Eddie Alvarez,” said White. “He did his deal, but if you look at the way that this thing goes down, Eddie Alvarez paid his dues there. He honored his deal. He honored his contract with them. When your contract is up and you have the right to match, that’s where a fighter truly finds out what he is worth. Well, he found out what he was worth, now pay him the money.”

Bellator MMA is owned by Viacom, and White claims Viacom is running the promotion and not Bellator president Bjorn Rebney.

“Viacom is running that company,” said White.

“They’re Viacom, one of the most powerful media companies on Earth. What is the number they sit on, 5.5 billion in cash? 5.5 billion in cash, break some off for Eddie (expletive) Alvarez and pay him what he deserves.”

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