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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Some more details have emerged on the contract offer the UFC gave to Bellator's Eddie Alvarez, along with the counter-offer from Bellator that they believe matches that deal. MMAJunkie.com obtained a copy of the lawsuit Bellator has filed against Alvarez, which contained both deals as exhibits.
Per the report, the deal the UFC offered Alvarez starts at $70,000 to show and $70,000 to win, increasing in $5,000 increments for each fight of the eight-fight deal, provided he continues winning. The deal also featured a $250,000 signing bonus, paid out over three fights at $85K, $85K, and $80K, respectively.
That part of the deal was essentially revealed by Bjorn Rebney in response to Alvarez airing his grievances publicly this week, but there's even more to the deal that show why Alvarez isn't very happy at the moment.
For starters, the UFC's contract states that it intends to offer Alvarez an immediate title fight in March, along with a cut of the event's pay-per-view revenue. Any pay-per-view event Alvarez is booked on would net him $1 for each "buy" between 200,000 and 400,000 buys, $2 per buy between 400,000 and 600,000 buys, and $2.50 per buy over 600,000 buys.
Additionally, he's guaranteed one booking on a Fox fight card, and "three appearances as a commentator at UFC-branded events."
Those are all terms Bellator can't "match" outright, though their counter-offer did give the same pay-per-view offer. The issue there is that they've never run a pay-per-view, and wouldn't be able to guarantee a pay-per-view booking like in the UFC's deal.
However, Bellator's counter-offer to Alvarez attempted to counter some of that with a $25,000 payout for a behind-the-scenes show with Spike TV, a $100,000 payout for appearing as a coach on the second season of the reality show they'll debut this year, and a guest host spot on Spike TV's "Road to the Championship" program. Additionally, the $250,000 signing bonus from Bellator would be in one lump sum check.
Penick's Analysis: There's still more to be parsed out, and MMAJunkie's Steven Marrocco is continuing to pore over the 48-page deal, but there do seem to be some very key differences in the two deals, along with language that has Bellator in a spot where they can claim to have "matched." The language in the offer says UFC "intends" on giving Alvarez the title fight and pay-per-view points, but given the nature of injuries, delays, fight bookings, etc., it's almost impossible to truly "guarantee" anything. Bellator is going to latch on to the wording, but there's a reason that Alvarez believes they haven't matched, and given some of this information, he has a case despite the guaranteed money being the same. Bellator can't claim the same intent with pay-per-view as the UFC because they've never run a pay-per-view event, and wouldn't have any way to claim they could come near to those numbers. Then again, they don't believe they'd have to. This won't be over anytime soon, that's for sure.
[Eddie Alvarez photo (c) Henry Dziekan III]
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_15562.shtml
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