Sherdog’s Top 10: Bellator MMA Moments

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4. The Alvarez Contract Dispute

While there had been whispers about the litigiousness of Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney and his business practices before Eddie Alvarez attempted to test the free-agent waters, the long, drawn-out and vicious happenings that accompanied that process from November 2012 until August 2013 opened the eyes of fans, media, managers and fighters themselves to the promotion’s dark underbelly.

Following his crushing knockout victory over Patricky Freire in October 2012, Alvarez reached the end of his contract with Bellator. Most fans and media assumed the UFC would make an offer the smaller promotion simply could not match and that it would wish him well and send him on his way, just as it did with Hector Lombard. Instead, Bellator decided to match the UFC’s offer, which included guarantees of both pay-per-view revenue and a spot on a Fox card. Alvarez rejected the offer, claiming Bellator had never promoted a pay-per-view and that Spike TV did not match the reach of Fox. In response, Bellator sued Alvarez for breach of contract, setting in motion an acrimonious nine-month odyssey of suit and countersuit between the two parties that ended with Alvarez re-signing, unhappily, with the promotion.

The dispute fundamentally changed Bellator’s future. Prior to the legal battle, Bellator had been signing top-notch talent from around the globe at a rapid pace and even picked up a few young fighters on whom the UFC had set its eyes. Afterward, that steady stream turned into a tiny trickle, with only a few blue-chippers -- Bubba Jenkins, Julio Cesar Neves and Darrion Caldwell, most notably -- signing with the promotion and largely on restricted, fight-to-fight contracts. For an organization that relied so heavily on cost-controlled young talent, much like the Tampa Bay Rays in Major League Baseball, the nasty battle was a massive blow to both its prestige and more importantly its ability to sign those kinds of fighters.

Since then, we have seen the rise of promotions such as Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Titan Fighting Championship, both of which trumpet their willingness to let their fighters go without making a mess of things and to some extent increased transparency in contract matters. It is difficult to overstate the long-term effects of this dispute on the landscape of MMA promotion.

Number 3 » Generally well-liked by managers and fighters for his fairness rather than reviled for his litigiousness, he has a proven track record of promoting intriguing fights that draw excellent ratings. More than anything, he knows how to construct fantastically fun cards for maximum visibility while still retaining legitimacy in the eyes of the fans.