Chandler-Alvarez II scheduled for Bellator PPV

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/8/13/4617248/eddie-alvarez-to-rematch-michael-chandler-on-bellator-ppv

Well, at least they made this thing worth ordering...

Ariel Helwani saying that a solid source told him the deal with Alvarez's contract is that if he loses this fight, he can walk away and go to the UFC. If he wins, he has to do the trilogy. So in essence we will be getting Eddie in the UFC after all, it will just be after getting stopped by Chandler again instead of coming off a couple impressive KOs

This is the best thing for Eddie, to languish for years with out competing is the last thing he wanted to do, here he gets to try and avenge a tough loss in one of the biggest rematches that can be made of a FotY quality tussle from 2011 and get paid again with a clear options presented at the conclusion of this contest. I believe him when he says he is very happy by this deal working out.

Good fight, one of the hottest possible rematches in the MMA world. They could make this the main event and probably should. Doesn't mean they have to promote Rampage vs Tito any less at all. UFC 79 was Chuck vs Wanderlei 100% no question. That GSP fought the main event in no way at all hid that.

Savvy business by BFC with the deal and after deal as well.

I fucking called it.

The sad part of this is that this fight should be the main event not Tito and Rampage.

The rematch to one of the 3 greatest fights in MMA history playing 2nd fiddle to two washed up has beens only makes it more awesome

When Chandler originally beat Alvarez. I thought Alvarez would take the rematch but now im going Chandler.

Chandler's hands have gotten too good. He's already shown the chin to take most of what Eddie can offer and at this point I don't think you can say the same in the other direction

It's a disgrace that Rampage vs Tito is the main event.

I think Chandler would have won the rematch no matter when it went down. But his advantage has only gotten bigger. I think he could finish Eddie early this time around.

Yeah, I am a fan of Alvarez, but I'll probably pick Chandler for this one.

freakzilla wrote:

It's a disgrace that Rampage vs Tito is the main event.

They are selling the names, business 101 learned from Zuffa. Not hard to see. Rampage and Tito had a combined 50 fights in the UFC and 10 of them were not main events or co-main events. People who know MMA know Chandler vs Alverez is a bigger deal, but anyone should see that not taking advantage of Tito and Rampage as drawing names would be incredibly shortsighted for trying to garner attention to sell a product. I don't like it either but this is the wake of the path carved by Zuffa.

The UFC is putting Chael Sonnen vs Shogun as a main event and they have far more fighters and options then Bellator does right now. It's a fight that makes no sense and it's headlining a UFC card.
Rampage and Tito would both beat Sonnen at LHW and would both be better fights for Shogun. Both should be ranked higher then Sonnen at LHW.

They should've put Rampage vs Tito as the co-main. That way they could've promoted it just as hard and casuals would be thinking wow, if they aren't even good enough to be the main event then how good are Chandler and Alvarez?

I agree.  UFC 79 was all about Chuck vs Silva, well, a lot of it was anyways.

GDPofDRC wrote:

I agree.  UFC 79 was all about Chuck vs Silva, well, a lot of it was anyways.

That fight was epic and deserves to be headlined over any fight that has ever happened in the history of MMA. They deserve it and they delivered. There has never been any other fighter that has brought it every single time like those two. As money as you will ever get. My favorite fight of all time.

I'd rather see Rampage vs Shogun and Tito vs Sonnen. Those fights make more sense then the current matchups.

GDPofDRC wrote:

I agree.  UFC 79 was all about Chuck vs Silva, well, a lot of it was anyways.

 The only reason GSP-Hughes was main event was because it was a title fight. Another reason Chandler-Alvarez should be main event.

Somebody sound the dumbass alert

"He was stupid for fighting for so long, but maybe he got a good deal with that, and now he’s fighting on a pay-per-view card against the champion," Freire said of Alvarez to MMAFighting.com. "I’m glad he will stay at Bellator, now my brother (Patricky Freire) has an opportunity to beat him." On their first encounter, Chandler finished Alvarez in a "Fight of the Year" candidate, but Freire didn’t see the fight as a "war". "He will lose to Chandler again," he said. "Alvarez got beat for four rounds. Chandler completely dominated him, knocked him down and submitted. Alvarez has better hands, but Chandler doesn’t get tired and is more explosive. Chandler is the favorite and will retain the title. In my opinion, he and (Gilbert) Melendez are the best lightweights on the planet." Some would say that Alvarez’s potential move to the UFC was a search for better competition, and Freire would disagree -- again. "I know that UFC doesn’t have the best fighters, especially in the lighter weight classes," he said. "Bellator has the toughest competition in MMA. I’m going to tell you one name: (Shahbulat) Shamhalaev. This guy has three knockouts in Bellator and only lost to the champion. Marlon Sandro, Daniel Straus… Being in the UFC doesn’t mean you’re the best. UFC is tough too, but Bellator is tougher. "I feel great, and I want to stay here for years. They treat me like family, pays me well, listen to what I have to say, try to make things the way I prefer. Bellator already is the second-biggest MMA organization in the world, and it’s only getting bigger. Bellator is a safe place to be, a company that cares about you. In the UFC, they can simply cut you if you have one win and one loss," said Freire. wrote:

Most of what he says is true.

It's not too out of line.

To me BFC is right now about where WEC was at it's best.  Difference being Zuffa bought/merged WEC at about this point where BFC is. Elite lighter divisions, weaker as you get heavier, though the best guys BFC has at heavier divisions are a bit better then the best big guys WEC ever had imo.  UFC has better depth at the lighter divisions, but BFC best lighter guys are every bit as good or better then most guys Zuffa pays.  Just a matter of scale.  But that does make UFC tougher overall.  The best of the best guys in either are comparably elite imo, but there are just more of them in the UFC.

The Pitbull's are kind of wired different though, this kind of talk doesn't surprise me from either of them.

I forgot he thought he got ripped off against Curran too. Did anyone on here having him winning? I thought it was pretty cut and dry despite it being a fun, competitive fight

Also, Alvarez had pretty much taken over the fight with Chandler until he got dropped with that bomb in the 4th. That I just attribute to him being butt hurt his bro got dusted though

I'm surprised there is not more heat on Chandler form his quotes. The nut shot in the 2nd round of his brothers fight was as bad as I've seen, the fact that he ate another one even worse after and one not as bad before makes that fight thoroughly unforgettable and imo had a significant impact on how things played out that night.

bobbitt15 wrote:

I forgot he thought he got ripped off against Curran too. Did anyone on here having him winning? I thought it was pretty cut and dry despite it being a fun, competitive fight

It was a good fight and close, but not very controversial I thought.