Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez feels that the Mixed Martial Arts Athlete’s Association (MMAAA) can only benefit from Rebney’s nous.
Alvarez holds the distinction of winning the lightweight championship in both the UFC and Bellator MMA. The latter was promoted by the controversial Rebney prior to a changing of the guard which saw current president Scott Coker take the reigns. In light of the publicized lawsuit involving Alvarez, the UFC and Bellator (which prevented the Philadelphia native from crossing over to Dana White’s ranks) not many would be expecting Alvarez’s deemed praise of his one-time adversary [Rebney].
The man who lost his title to current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor at UFC 205 last year spoke with Ariel Helwani on the most recent episode of The MMA Hour. The fighter, who has held both the UFC and Bellator lightweight titles, surprised Helwani with his comments on the polarising, ex-Bellator promoter:
“You know how like when a hacker gets caught, they flip him?” Alvarez said. “The hacker knows how to get into the system. So the FBI … they tell the hacker, ‘If you don’t teach us everything you know, then we’re gonna lock you up?’ I looked at it like that same way. Here’s a guy who knows every which way, every angle of how to really damage a fighter or their career. Now, if you flip him on the fighters’ side, he can do the complete opposite. I thought it was genius to find a guy who knows all the ins and outs.”
The aforementioned lawsuit was attributed to Alvarez’s 2012 move to the UFC, which failed to materialize given a contractual clause preventing the fighter’s departure from Rebney’s Bellator. In essence, Bellator had matching rights over any contract signed by Alvarez which meant that any agreement made by the fighter could be in turn matched by Bellator – this effectively prevented the fighter from leaving the promotion.
Bellator sued Alvarez, who settled the case in 2013 and would not fight in the UFC until September 2014’s loss to Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (who is coincidentally also involved in the MMAAA). Despite this, Alvarez is insistent that Rebney’s association with the “fighter’s union” is positive, but that he should have taken more of a backseat when going public:
“Initially, I thought this is a terrible idea, putting him in the forefront of it,” Alvarez said. “But having him on the team, they couldn’t have found a better person on the team to fight for the fighters. It’s good to have him on your side, for sure. I don’t think it was good putting him on the forefront. His face should have been more like a silent partner.”
