The gloves are now off in former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez’s contract dispute with the promotion as they prepare for a legal battle, as the fighter took to Twitter to inform his fans that the real problem lies with Viacom and Spike TV.
“This is a lot less about [Bellator CEO] Bjorn [Rebney] guys and a lot more about Viacom,” Alvarez told his fans on the social media site. “I spoke with the higher ups and explained myself, basically was told, “Too bad.” Bjorn only owns very little and I’m really not sure he has a say at all. I went over his and spoke with his bosses and here we are!”
Interestingly, Alvarez went on to cite other examples of fighters currently under Bellator contract who are being unfairly treated by the promotion’s owners.
“I am fortunate compared to guys like Cosmo Alexandre. This guy trains day and night to feed his family and Viacom/Spike continue to hurt him. Alexandre’s story of getting shafter might be worse than mine. Not to mention how Zach Makovsky was bullied to take a smaller pay day than contextually agreed or just sit after being champ.
I might just dump just real sh*t tonight until I get a call from someone to stop. So much to talk about now that the gloves are off.
I have nothing to complain about I get paid well enough to keep bills paid, but to bully guys like Zach and Cosmo is a sin.”
Alvarez then took one final swing at Bellator’s big money owners before calling it a night.
“Bjorn’s a grunt in this. It’s Viacom and Spike and a group of idiots a money who don’t know sh*t about MMA. I’d be more careful in what I said but I was told as long as I’m truthful then I can say whatever I want.”
Oh, and apparently Alvarez is going to be on ‘The MMA Hour’ show with Ariel Helwani on Monday so there’s probably more to come as this dispute starts to really turn ugly.
