Issue 102
June 2014
in this month...the history of mixed martial arts retold through the pages from fO’S archives
JUNE 2008
Eddie Alvarez’s recent legal wranglings with Bellator MMA aren’t the first time he’s been rocked outside the ring
Mixed martial arts’ hottest free agent, Eddie Alvarez, might be feeling a little bit of déjà vu. His limbo status of today, as a result of his well-publicised legal issues with Bellator MMA, is reminiscent of an issue he had with the now-defunct BodogFight in 2007. One which he explained exclusively to Fighters Only in 2008.
The Philadelphian lightweight is currently caught in a contract-matching deadlock. After the end of his Bellator obligations in 2012 he received an offer sheet from the UFC earlier this year, which Bellator says it matched, legally obliging him to sign with the tournament-based promotion. Alvarez feels it isn’t a true match, however, and both parties are presently poised to go to court.
In the June 2008 issue of FO, Alvarez described his problems with BodogFight in 2007. “I kept being told to train, told 100% I would fight by the end of the year, whether it was Nick (Thompson) or someone else. I told them with my financial situation I needed to fight by the end of the year and was being told to keep training.”
A young prospect developing into a legitimate international force, BodogFight (an extension of billionaire Calvin Ayre’s gambling brand) had acquired Alvarez and his Euphoria MFC contract when the former purchased the latter in 2006 – Alvarez’s welterweight title included.
“When it comes down to it I was never given a fight and I wasn’t able to make money,” Alvarez continued. “When I asked for compensation for all my training I was told I’d get an advance and I’d have to pay it back with my next fight. That was commendable but the advance I was going to be getting was nothing compared to what I needed to stay afloat. I felt for a little bit I was being treated a little unfair.”
As a result, Eddie opted to break from BodogFight in 2007 in search of a new promotion. He signed to manager Monte Cox, for a time a president of M-1 Global and Adrenaline MMA, and plied his trade for EliteXC and in Japan before joining Bellator in 2009.
At the time of speaking to FO, Eddie was 13-1 and part way through the Dream 2008 lightweight grand prix. He’d ultimately earn a place in the tournament final before injury surrendered his spot.
“It was my decision,” said Alvarez in 2008 of his departure from BodogFight. “I still think they are great and don’t think I would never fight for them again. I think in the future they will build themselves strong and maybe I’ll go back and fight for them if they will have me. I didn’t burn any bridges, it was just business.”
His reasons for leaving BodogFight in 2007 might have been different to those that catalysed his courtship of the UFC – today Alvarez is seeking to capitalise on his success and athletic prime more than simply earn a living – but both courses and outcomes are reminders that fighters are troubled day in, day out by far more than just the 15 minutes you watch in the cage.
NOSTRADAMMAUS: SUPREME ST PIERRE
Georges St Pierre’s recent imperious five-round decision over Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in Montreal notched ‘Rush’s eighth consecutive UFC 170lb title defence, an achievement Fighters Only had partly predicted way back in 2008. Following his UFC 83 second-round TKO of Matt Serra (also in GSP’s hometown of Montreal), our fight report noted: “It is impossible not to admire the guy’s athleticism, his drive and most of all, his ever-expanding skill-set. Still only 26 years old, he has placed himself atop the welterweight division and most observers struggle to see an opponent who might pose him
a challenge.”
ELSEWHERE IN THE JUNE 2008 ISSUE
‘IT’S GOING TO BE HARD TO GET ME TO STOP’
Chuck Liddell gave an eerily accurate prediction of his fighting future when he spoke exclusively to Fighters Only for his June 2008 cover interview. He told us: “I love fighting, I love what I do, so long as my body works. I’m hoping I know when to stop… I don’t know, it’s going to be hard to get me to stop. I love fighting; it’s going to be hard to make me hang it up.” At the time he’d recently decisioned Wanderlei Silva after a judges’ loss to Keith Jardine and a TKO title loss to ‘Rampage’ Jackson. He’d go on to be stopped by strikes in his next three bouts before reluctantly retiring at the insistence of UFC president Dana White.
GIRLS GOT GAME
Yet more proof Fighters Only was way ahead of the women’s MMA bandwagon. In the June 2008 issue we ran a feature profiling the female arm of the sport, explaining to readers the history, the issues faced by female fighters, their potential and the game’s best scrappers.
HOME SLICE
In 2009, YouTube fighting sensation Kimbo Slice was a shock addition to the 10th season of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter series. A stark about-face from little over a year previous when UFC president Dana White confirmed a well-known frosty opinion of the brawler. In our June 2008 issue, we reported White remarking on the possibility of Kimbo (then employed by UFC competitor EliteXC) fighting Chuck Liddell in the UFC, saying: “Kimbo’s not there yet. He would get destroyed. I heard he just got knocked out by Forrest Griffin last week in a sparring match after a kick to the head.”
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