ONE Championship has announced arguably the biggest free-agent signing in the company’s history, and I’ll give my thoughts on it in today’s MMA odds and ends.
Eddie Alvarez Signs With ONE Championship
On Tuesday, ONE Championship made its biggest free-agent signing ever as former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez inked a contract with Asia’s biggest MMA promotion. ONE president Chatryi Sityodtong revaled the announcement himself via Twitter, posting a video of Alvarez signing his contract. The signing is a clear indication the UFC passed on its right to match ONE’s offer to Alvarez, which suggests he was given a lucrative contract. It’s possible Alvarez could be making seven figures a fight with bonuses, but it’s very likely he is getting a significant show purse, probably in mid six-figures range, if I had to guess. This signing surpassed Ben Askren for the biggest signing by ONE ever, in my mind.
Alvarez (29-6. 1 NC) is coming off of a KO loss to Dustin Poirier at this past summer’s UFC Calgary card. After a tremendous career in Bellator where he was the two-time lightweight champ there, Alvarez came into the UFC and won the sport’s ultimate lightweight crown with a huge upset TKO win over Rafael dos Anjos. Alvarez would go on to lose the title to Conor McGregor at UFC 205, but he made a massive life-changing amount of money for that fight. Overall Alvarez went 4-3, 1 NC in the UFC while fighting the best lightweights in the sports, and he won the 2018 “Fight of the Year” award for his brutal KO by knee over Justin Gaethje at UFC 218. Alvarez may have not defended the title, but having a resume that includes wins over Gaethje, RDA, Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez is just terrific.
It will be interesting to see who ONE matches up Alvarez with in his debut there as the promotion obviously doesn’t have the roster the UFC has. If I had to guess, I’d say ONE matches Alvarez up against Shinya Aoki, who has won three straight fights in ONE. This would actually be a trilogy match between these two, as Aoki first submitted Alvarez with a heel hook back in DREAM. Alvarez and Aoki later met again back in the Bjorn Rebney Bellator days, with Alvarez beating Aoki via TKO. Alvarez would be a considerable favorite in the trilogy fight, but the fact Aoki is one of the few fighters to have beaten Alvarez makes this third fight intriguing. Other possible options for Alvarez’ ONE debut include Martin Nguyen, Eduard Folayang, and Askren himself in what would be a true superfight for ONE.
Alvarez is a great signing for ONE but also a tremendous loss for the UFC’s lightweight division as he was one of the top fighters in the division, and one always capable of putting on amazing fights. The UFC will surely miss Alvarez from the roster and MMA fans will too, though at the end of the day you just have to be happy for Alvarez to get a big contract as he truly deserved it.
Brad Scott Gets Two Years From USADA
Just a small note here but UFC middleweight Brad Scott has accepted a two-year sanction from USADA for having cocaine metabolites in his system during an in-competition test back at UFC Fight Night 130, when he lost a split decision to Carlo Pedersoli Jr. You can read more about that on USADA’s website.
Several Bookmakers Tony Reported Missing In Alleged Kidnapping
Some very unfortunate news to report here as Costa Rica police are looking into an alleged kidnapping of Several Bookmakers owner “Tony”. According to a report from CalvinAyre.com, Tony was reported missing on September 24 by his wife and has not been seen since. The article says that two gunmen on motorcycles and two more in a BMW allegedly forced him off the road and demanded payment of between $750,000 and $1 million. The reports say Tony paid the ransom but was never released. Read more here. We at MMA Oddsbreaker are truly gutted by this news and urge sports bettors to be sympathetic to his family who are going through a very tough time right now. MMAOB wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for Tony and Several Bookmakers.
