Bellator yesterday agreed to release their current lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez paving the way for him to finally make his move to the UFC official.
After securing his signature the UFC have opted to put Alvarez straight to work as he’ll now fight Donald Cerrone in the co-main event of UFC 178 on September 27th.
That means that Cerrone’s previously announced opponent Bobby Green is now without a fight and it remains to be seen whether the promotion will look to find him a new opponent or take him off the card completely.
Green had been trash-talking to ‘Cowboy’ as recently as yesterday, so apparently the UFC hadn’t given him advance warning and it’s almost certain to be a body blow to him that he’s not going to get the biggest fight of his career after all.
Alvarez was one of Bellator’s biggest fighters during their rise from being just another upstart MMA organization to becoming the second biggest in the sport.
He fought in their very first event back in April of 2009 and would go on to win his next seven fights in a row, winning the season one lightweight tournament and successfully defending it along the way.
In 2011 he then lost the belt to his biggest rival Michael Chandler, but he then pieced together two more wins before defeating Chandler in a rematch late last year to regain his title.
Alvarez, who bows out of Bellator with an overall 10-1 record, has always been an exciting do-or-die style fighter who’s been in some memorable wars which has made him a firm fan favorite.
That makes him the perfect opponent for Cerrone who’s also one of the most consistently entertaining lightweights on the planet and will help raise excitement levels for UFC 178 which is headlined by a flyweight title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso.
