Former Bellator LW champ Eddie Alvarez is looking at spending most of the next year in court fighting to get out of his contract with the country's #2 MMA organization.
Former Bellator Lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez just wants to move on with his career, somewhere outside of Bellator. Unfortunately he signed a contract with a matching period and Bellator won't let him go. The bad news is just getting worse for Alvarez who sold his home to fight the case.
According to documents filed Monday in U.S. district court, the two parties aren't required to see each other in court until after Sept. 15, 2014, when a pre-trial conference may take place.
That means it could be near the end of 2014 before a jury gets involved, unless a settlement takes place.
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Attorneys for Alvarez and Bellator outlined a plan for moving forward with the case, which calls for the discovery portion to be completed by Feb. 28, 2014 and depositions, or out-of-court testimony, by July 28. The two may add parties to the case by Oct. 15 of this year.
One has to ask what Bellator and Viacom think they're accomplishing by wasting the prime years of a major martial arts talent like Alvarez. Do they think young aspiring fighters are seeing this and saying, "man I want to get into business with these guys!"? Do they think this is winning the good will of fans?
Whatever value Alvarez might have for the organization as an unwilling indentured servant has to be out-weighed by the damage to the promotion's reputation with fans and fighters.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/6/2...-tied-down-by-bellator-lawsuit-long-into-2014