Former champion Eddie Alvarez won't be fighting for a chance to reclaim his Bellator lightweight title anytime soon.
Bellator chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that Alvarez won't take the final slot in the organization's season-six lightweight tournament.
Instead, he's working to book Alvarez for a rematch with DREAM champion Shinya Aoki.
Alvarez, a season-one tourney winner who held the title for two-and-a-half years, lost the belt to Michael Chandler in November at Bellator 58. The spirited and back-and-forth bout, which proved one of 2011's best, ended in a fourth-round submission victory for new champ and still-undefeated Alvarez.
In Bellator, the only way to earn a title shot is to win a tournament, and ultimately, Rebney and Alvarez decided the timing wasn't right for him to enter the season-six tourney, which kicks off in March.
"Ed won't be part of the next tournament during the March kickoff," Rebney said. "The decision was reached between us that the next right step wouldn't be to jump back in the season-tournament right now."
Instead, Rebney is talking to DREAM officials about doing a cross-promotion fight with Aoki (30-5 MMA, 0-0 BFC), who submitted Alvarez (22-3 MMA, 6-1 BFC) at DREAM "Dynamite!! 2008." Up until the Chandler loss, it was Alvarez's only defeat in a 13-fight span. Rebney talked about the possibility of the fight before that loss. And even after the fight, Rebney said Alvarez vs. Aoki II was still the fight they wanted.
"We're still talking very regularly about the Aoki fight," he said. "We've been talking to DREAM about making it happen, so it could still happen as his next fight."
It's not clear if the fight would take place under the Bellator or DREAM banner, though.
Currently, the season-six lightweight tourney field includes J.J. Ambrose (17-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Lloyd Woodard (11-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC), Thiago Michel (9-2 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Patricky "Pitbull" Freire (10-2 MMA, 3-1 BFC), Brent Weedman (18-7-1 MMA, 4-2 BFC), Rick Hawn (11-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC) and Ricardo Tirloni (14-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC).
As for the eighth and final spot?
"We've got a question mark next to that slot," Rebney said. "We've got the list down to three (candidates), and that was from a very big list. ... We'll decide soon."
The tournament, which takes place during the 12-week season, awards the winner a total of $100,000 in pay. He also gets a shot at Chandler's title.
Source: Ex-champ Alvarez not joining season-six Bellator tourney, targeted for Aoki fight