Bellator MMA and Eddie Alvarez have settled their legal dispute, and Alvarez will rematch Mike Chandler for the promotions 155-pound title on the Nov. 2 pay-per-view, promotion officials announced on Tuesday.
Chandler vs. Alvarez II will be the co-main event on the card, which takes place at the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center in Long Beach Calif.
“Without question, Chandler vs. Alvarez was the best MMA fight I’ve ever seen,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said in a statement. “I’m excited to be able to deliver this rematch to MMA fans. It’s been a long time coming and we’ve had to jump over a lot of hurdles to get this done, but from the day we announced our PPV I promised fans that this card was going to be the deepest we’ve ever done, and we are well on our way. This is just the start.”
Alvarez and Bellator were in the midst of a legal battle when the fighter fulfilled his Bellator contract then was offered a free-agent deal from Zuffa, the company that owns the UFC, to compete in the Octagon. Bellator had matching rights and claimed they matched the offer given by Zuffa brass, which reportedly included a percentage of pay-per-view earnings.
The addition of Alvarez to the Nov. 2 Bellator card marks the end of a long battle, which has kept the fighter out of action since October 2012. Alvarez has since done numerous interviews in which he claimed financial struggles from not being able to fight.
With the Chandler rematch now being official, Avalrez will get his payday.
“I still lose sleep over my loss to Chandler, and I want it off my record,” Alvarez said. “This was a long process, but at the end of the day I’m back with Bellator and I’m happy to get back in the cage. I really believe everything happens for a reason, and at the end of the day my family and I are happy, and I’m ready to get my belt back on Nov. 2.”
The Bellator pay-per-view card is headlined by a light heavyweight match between veterans Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tito Ortiz.
