Bellator and Eddie Alvarez respond to Melendez

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CHICAGO, Ill. (May 15, 2010) – Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney responded today to Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez’s call-out of reigning Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez, saying that he will do everything in his power to make the fight happen.


Melendez, appearing on this weekend’s edition of HDNet’s “Inside MMA,” told hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten that he would “love to fight Eddie Alvarez.”


“I think he’s an amazing fighter and that’s why I call out Eddie Alvarez – let’s unify those titles,” Melendez said. “I’d love to fight that guy and test myself. I think if I could beat him, I could be No. 1 and vice-versa.”


Rebney said an Alvarez-Melendez fight would be “a great matchup between two of the best in the world.”


“As an MMA fan, first and foremost, Alvarez versus Melendez is an awesome fight at 155 that deserves to be seen and needs to be made,” Rebney said. “Gilbert has the heart of a warrior, just like our champion Eddie. I will do everything I can to get Gilbert what he asked for. Gilbert wants the fight, Eddie wants the fight and I want the fight. All we have to do is get Scott Coker on board and together we can make this happen. Eddie wants to fight the best and Gilbert wants to fight the best and there is no reason why any promoter or network should stand in the way of that.”


Alvarez (22-2) was crowned Bellator’s Lightweight World Champion last summer and is now the consensus No. 3-ranked 155-pounder in the world. He reaffirmed that status earlier this month with an impressive rear-naked-choke submission of former UFC standout Josh Neer before a nationwide audience on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo.


Melendez (20-2) won the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship belt from Josh Thomson last December and then defended the title late last month with a dominating unanimous decision victory over Shinya Aoki before a national TV audience on CBS. The 28-year-old is generally regarded as one of the top lightweights in the world.


Reached at his home in Philadelphia on Saturday, the 26-year-old Alvarez said he would relish the chance to take on Melendez on a national stage.


“Gilbert is a great fighter who’s got a lot of momentum going right now,” Alvarez said. “This is the match-up that all the fans want to see and it’d be a shame if it didn’t happen. I want to do it, Bjorn wants to do it and it sounds like Gilbert wants to do it. If I could sum up my thoughts in four words, it’d be: ‘Let’s make it happen.’”

Great fucking fight, got to roll with Eddie if that goes down

I pray this happens I would take Eddie as well but ehy props to fucking Melendez

like it or not alot of people had Shinya Aoki number 2 in the division and Milendez dominated him and know he is going after Alvarz a great fighter as well

hope it happens and we see Alvarez, Melendez, and Huerta vs Aoki or a Varner in a cross promotion

They should have the fight in a hispanic oriented community where both Puerto Ricans and Mexicans live. Good fight rivalry.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

They should have the fight in a hispanic oriented community where both Puerto Ricans and Mexicans live. Good fight rivalry.

Good point Wolf. Have it where u can get the Hispanic nations involved.

Alvarez -- the dude is way too strong and explosive. One of the rare LWs with one-punch KO power.

This would be Sick. As of now I have Eddie # 3 and Gilbert # 4.

Miami?

Gilbert is looking to be one of the great advocates for fights across organizational divides.

Would not be surprised if we did not see more title vs title possibilities spring up.

4 those that want all the fighters under one roof, the willingness to fight against competing orgs eradicates that need. How long can the UFC maintain an isolationist philosophy?

Forever, too few top guys outside the UFC to make it a neccessity

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

Forever, too few top guys outside the UFC to make it a neccessity

Agreed the UFC doesnt need these other orgs at all.

timthebim wrote:

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

Forever, too few top guys outside the UFC to make it a neccessity

Agreed the UFC doesnt need these other orgs at all.

Hard to say that with Fedor out there.

For now

I favor Eddie in this fight. Much better boxing. The only thing that scares me about Eddie is his very iffy chin.

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

For now

maybe but I don't think M-1 or the UFC is willing to change their stance. at least not soon, and M-1 and sf seem to have a thing going.

Ninja\Rua/Fan wrote:

I favor Eddie in this fight. Much better boxing.

I wasn't wowed by eddie's boxing in his last go. looked pretty short armed. though neer has decent length. very tight matchup.

captain organic wrote:

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

For now

maybe but I don't think M-1 or the UFC is willing to change their stance. at least not soon, and M-1 and sf seem to have a thing going.

Fedor has 2 fights left with SF, Werdum then more then likely Reem, then what is there? His contract with M-1 ends in 3 fights I believe maybe 2 aswell, not saying he won't reup, but he may not.

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

captain organic wrote:

tolivendiewithLA wrote:

For now

maybe but I don't think M-1 or the UFC is willing to change their stance. at least not soon, and M-1 and sf seem to have a thing going.

Fedor has 2 fights left with SF, Werdum then more then likely Reem, then what is there? His contract with M-1 ends in 3 fights I believe maybe 2 aswell, not saying he won't reup, but he may not.

King Mo said he wanted a peice, would weigh about the same. And in fear of a neg to my rep, there is Lashley.

I was tempted, but PLEASE no Lashely, Rogers should be his next fight if he wins

agree LA Lashley vs ROgers should happen but you know waht the fear is

Rogers knocks Lashleys head off and then SF just killed their own potential cash cow

It would be great to see Gil vs Eddie! I would be routing for Gil but I do rank Eddie higher it would be a great fight. SF and Bellator need to make this happen.

MMAEYES wrote:

It would be great to see Gil vs Eddie! I would be routing for Gil but I do rank Eddie higher it would be a great fight. SF and Bellator need to make this happen.

It would be a great fight for MMA. One of the best non UFC matcups you can make at any weight right now.

I actually think Lashley/Rogers is a crap shoot, Rogers big edge standing, Lashley big edge wrestling, it could go either way IMO

OUSOONERSOU wrote:

MMAEYES wrote:

It would be great to see Gil vs Eddie! I would be routing for Gil but I do rank Eddie higher it would be a great fight. SF and Bellator need to make this happen.

It would be a great fight for MMA. One of the best non UFC matcups you can make at any weight right now.

Hell yeah that's a CBS fight right there.

A potential fight between two of the world's top 155-pound fighters outside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is one step closer to fruition.

Just hours after officials from Bellator Fighting Championships distributed a press release campaigning for a fight between their lightweight champ, Eddie Alvarez, and Strikeforce lightweight title-holder Gilbert Melenedez, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said he's open to co-promoting the champion-vs.-champion bout.

"If the stars align and we can work out all the terms and conditions and timing, we'd do it," Coker told MMAjunkie.com "Of course we would. Why wouldn't we? Let's go do this."

With the likes of Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn, Kenny Florian, Gray Maynard, Jim Miller and Diego Sanchez, the UFC has a stronghold on the world's best 155-pound talent. That, of course, has long been the case and given the promotion just about every major lightweight fight of late.

But Alvarez vs. Melendez would pit two of the world's top-10 lightweights against each other. And with the UFC's upcoming Edgar vs. Penn II and Florian vs. Maynard bouts, it couldn't come at a better time.

Talk of the fight first popped up on Friday when Melendez appeared as a panelist on HDNet's "Inside MMA" program. Melendez, who won an interim title and then unified the belts with a win over Josh Thomson in December, thinks the fight could determine a No. 1 fighter.

"I think he's an amazing fighter, and that's why I call out Eddie Alvarez," Melendez said. "Let's unify those titles. I'd love to fight that guy and test myself. I think if I could beat him, I could be No. 1 and vice versa."

He got some support from Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, who recently pitted Alvarez against UFC vet Josh Neer in a non-title "super fight" earlier this month. (Alvarez won via second-round submission.)

"I will do everything I can to get Gilbert what he asked for," Rebney stated. "Gilbert wants the fight, Eddie wants the fight, and I want the fight. All we have to do is get Scott Coker on board, and together, we can make this happen. Eddie wants to fight the best, and Gilbert wants to fight the best, and there is no reason why any promoter or network should stand in the way of that."

Coker, in fact, agrees. He said Strikeforce has already allowed some of its fighters (such as Rudy Bears) to compete in Bellator. Additionally, he even inquired about using Bellator fighter and UFC vet Roger Huerta on a Strikeforce card.

"We've lent them three or four fighters already, and we had a brief conversation about (loaning) Roger Huerta, but the terms, conditioning, time just weren't right," Coker said. "But we'd love to work with them."

Alvarez (20-2), of course, makes his first title defense this fall. He'll fight either Toby Imada or Pat Curran, who recently advanced to the Bellator season-two tourney finale. Alvarez will enter the fight with 10 wins in his past 11 fights, which included consecutive submission victories over Greg Loughran, Eric Reynolds and Imada to win the season-one tourney and Bellator title.

Melendez (18-2), has won four of his past five and recently avenged the only two losses of his career (to Thomson and Mitsuhiro Ishida). In his most recent bout, he knocked off Japanese star Shinya Aoki in a CBS-televised title fight.