Bjorn Rebney's departure from Bellator may be enough to keep their lightweight champion, and organizational poster-boy, Eddie Alvarez in the fold.
Rebney, along with president and COO Tim Danaher, parted ways with the company he founded on Wednesday, and former Strikefoce CEO Scott Coker was immediately named Danaher's successor as the president of Bellator MMA.
“Before (Coker’s hiring), Eddie definitely wanted to leave,” Alvarez representative Glenn Robinson told MMAjunkie. “I don’t think that was a secret. After this, we’d have to sit down with him first.”
Alvarez engaged in a very public battle with Rebney and Bellator when he attempted to jump ship to the UFC after the expiration of his contract in 2013. Bellator matched Zuffa's offer, and Alvarez took them to court in an attempt to free himself from their clutches. The two parties eventually agreed on a two-fight deal, the first of which took place at Bellator 106, when Alvarez recaptured the lightweight strap with a split-decision victory over Michael Chandler.
Although it isn't clear whether or not Rebney's expulsion is enough to keep Alvarez under the Viacom umbrella, the change may cause the champ to re-think his future.
“Eddie is happy about the shakeup,” Robinson said. “He wasn’t happy with the way things were being run. I don’t think that’s any secret, so Eddie was very happy to hear there’s been a change in management. Eddie respects Viacom very much, and he’s always told me that.”
“They had this entire system based on (the idea) that you earn your title shots,” Robinson later added. “And then they made two changes, which we call the ‘Alvarez change 1′ and the ‘Alvarez change 2.’ When they were trying to get Eddie the first time, they changed their rules to allow (title) rematches. And then when they have no reason for him to be fighting Michael Chandler now, they changed their rules to say they’re allowed to give any past tournament champion a rematch at any time.
“I don’t totally understand how that makes sense with the premise of Bellator, where titles are earned, not given. We weren’t very happy about that change.”
