Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren insists he wasn't the least bit surprised to learn that his boss, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, might not be hard at work trying to figure out how to retain his services now that his contract is up.
"I'm happy, more than anything, that they're [waiving] the exclusive [negotiating] period, so now I don't have to sit out 90 days before anything even starts to happen," Askren told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "That's definitely a positive thing."
It's also a little bit strange. Here's Askren, the undefeated 170-pound champion who's been slicing through the competition in Bellator, and the company isn't even going to try to get him to stay?
That's what Rebney told Josh Gross of ESPN.com earlier this week, saying, "I don't think we're going to make an offer at this point. So I don't see any reason to make anybody sit out. If Ben's going to go to the UFC, we should speed up that process so he can go fight. I'd love to see Ben versus [UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre."
"I don't know that there are any challenges left in Bellator, so yeah, I think the only challenges for me are in the UFC."
Read more:http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/0...-go-to-the-ufc
“Recently there has been speculation in the media regarding my settlement with Bellator. The settlement is involved and complicated and contains many contingencies. The terms of the settlement are confidential and neither I, nor my representatives, are going to release these terms to anyone. The speculations, which have been printed, are just that, speculations, and could not possibly be completely accurate as the settlement is over forty (40) pages long. I would suggest that these speculations are helping no one, and respectfully request that they cease immediately. All I want to do is fight.”
http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/news_eddie_alvarez_releases_statement_says_all_he_wants_to_do_is_fight/14363657
Sounds to me like Eddie is worried about all the speculations or like Viacom got to him. Lol