If you’ve been following former Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez’s recent timeline of events, you’re aware that he’s recently gone from having the two largest mixed martial arts promotions  in a bidding war over him, to now having to deal with a lawsuit from his former employer. According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, Alvarez’s departure is not definitive at this point .

“The thing that is so discouraging about it is Eddie and I have had a very tight relationship for about four years, and the last three weeks have not been such a tight relationship. We were, I’d go as far as to say pretty good friends over a four-year period and that’s the most discouraging thing about it. It’s just that. I mean look, it’s a disagreement. It’s going to come to resolution. We’re either going to settle it and he’s going to fight in the Bellator cage or it’s going a different route. My hope is it gets settled sooner, rather than later. “

The drama-laden lawsuit was not the only subject shared by Rebney. Preoccupied in his founded organization, the MMA engrossed CEO  is not one to sleep in.

“I’m probably averaging about four-hours a night, then text messages and emails start bouncing in and waking me up,about four when people start rolling into the office on the east coast. I’ve had much worst jobs, I can tell you that.”

With Bellator set to make its debut on Spike, thoughts of Griffin vs. Bonnar come to mind. It was a night when MMA took a large step-up in terms of exposure, thanks to Spike. Could Bellator have a similar growth spurt in their debut? Rebney would love to see a similar, gritty war in his cage, but at the same time he’s aware that the men he has placed in the main event are tacticians that are not looking to get in a messy brawl.

“I think that moment in time, back when Spike launched The Ultimate Fighter. The close out of that first season had a magical combination of events. It was good for the sport. It was really good for the sport. A lot of people turned in for the curiosity and they got to see that fight. As we all know that was a very guts and glory-centric type of fight. That was an old-school throw for the fences type of battle.

Chandler is one of those you know, If you were just objectively ranking the top five lightweights on the earth. Hawn belongs in that conversation as well. Technically these guys are at a very high level.