Sherdog’s Top 10: Bellator MMA Moments

---

1. The Alvarez-Chandler Rivalry

Although hardcore fans had known Eddie Alvarez from his time fighting in Japan, it was his dominant run through the Bellator lightweight tournament and subsequent brutal beatings of fighters like Josh Neer, Roger Huerta and Pat Curran that made him a household name among more casual connoisseurs of MMA. Chandler, by contrast, was one of Bellator’s first crop of homegrown stars, along with Curran, Ben Askren, Cole Konrad and the “Pitbull” brothers. He was a fighter who had cut his teeth in the promotion and worked his way through the tournament while gaining a following along the way.

It was somehow fitting that the first epic battle between Alvarez and Chandler took place on the same night, Nov. 19, 2011, as the all-out, all-time war between Mauricio Rua and Dan Henderson at UFC 139, as they were easily the two best fights of 2011. After three thrilling rounds at Bellator 58, Chandler managed to secure a rear-naked choke in transition in the fourth, dethroning the champion and claiming a shiny new belt to go along with his honors as an NCAA All-American wrestler.

Their second meeting, at Bellator 106 in November 2013, was one of the most anticipated in the history of the promotion, and the intended linchpin of Bellator’s first effort on pay-per-view. Although the PPV plans fell through and the card ended up on Spike TV, Alvarez and Chandler hardly disappointed in their rematch. It was a fantastic, back-and-forth battle that featured slick punching combinations from the challenger and flying knees and high-amplitude slams from the champion. After five breathtaking rounds, Alvarez reclaimed his belt from the upstart and was crowned the king once more.

As memorable as Toby Imada’s inverted triangle and some of the other awe-inspiring, crazy finishes were, it was the Alvarez-Chandler rivalry that convinced fans and media of the promotion’s legitimacy and its deserved place in the sport. This is no knock on the other talented fighters the promotion has featured over the years but simple recognition of the fact that it was Alvarez and Chandler who demonstrated that Bellator could be a true home to some of the cream of the world’s talent.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Influx of Russian fighters, Joe Warren-Joe Soto, Warren-Pat Curran, retirement of Renato Sobral, Cole Konrad’s career change.

Follow Sherdog.com preview expert and Top 10 author Patrick Wyman on Twitter.