Eddie Alvarez Says Ben Askren Should Have Shut Up
Eddie Alvarez is no stranger to being on the wrong side of his employer; his 13 month contract dispute with Bellator meant he was almost made homeless while he was unable to fight. After losing his Lightweight title to Michael Chandler at Bellator 58, ‘The Silent Assassin’ defeated Shinya Aoki and Patricky Freire by KO before taking a hiatus.
As it turns out, the absence from the sport of MMA wasn’t too rough on Alvarez. He returned at Bellator 106 to defeat Chandler by decision and win back his coveted strap. So the beef between Alvarez and Bellator seems to have been squashed, but it seems that the estranged Welterweight champ Ben Askren has got on the wrong side of Alvarez.
“Ben was very opinionated about how my situation was dealt with although he had no clue about my situation.” Said Alvarez when talking to MMAFighting.com “I’ll have a little more respect and say that I don’t what happened with (Ben’s) situation, so I’m not going to comment. Rather than be ignorant like he was and go about saying some stupid sh** that he said.”
‘Funky’ had criticized the way that Alvarez had gone against Bellator, so it’s ironic that Askren was eventually released by the promotion while Alvarez managed to climb his way back to glory. It seemed, at times, like Bellator and Alvarez would never sing from the same song sheet again.
“Yeah, he annoyed me. He had a very uneducated opinion on how much money I should make. He knew how much I should ask for. That people are making $8/hr somewhere so I should take the money and run. Yeah, maybe he should have shut up.”
Askren is currently being linked to Asian MMA promotion ‘One FC’, and is expected to debut in the near future. Whether he will take the same paycheck as he was on U.S soil is unknown. ‘Funky’ was lambasted by fans for his ‘boring’ wrestling style, and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney seemed to mirror the public opinion.
The promotion severed their ties with the unbeaten 170lb. kingpin late last year, and he now seeks employment in the Asian market. The UFC was uninterested by the prospect of Askren joining their ranks, and maybe Alvarez has a point here?
