UFC Quick Quote: Bellator and its $5 billion owner, Viacom, can afford to pay Eddie Alvarez

"Don't forget this, either, everybody talks about Bellator like they're some poor little promotion. Viacom owns fucking Bellator. Viacom owns Bellator. Viacom runs that shit. Bellator like you used to know it is over. Viacom sits on five billion dollars in cash. Five billion in cash. Pay the kid. Pay the kid the exact monetary offer we gave him and you deserve the right to have him. You know what I mean? We're not talking about some poor little promotion, oh poor little Bellator and the big bad UFC. Viacom! We're not sitting on five billion in cash, they are. They can pay the kid. Pay him."

As Eddie Alvarez prepares for his upcoming court date against his former (or maybe current) employer, Bellator, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White weighed in at the UFC on FOX 6 press conference media scrum about the rival promotion's proud new owner. Viacom, which is the fourth largest media conglomerate in the world and has an estimated enterprise value of nearly $33 billion --- not the measly $5 billion White alluded to -- deserved to have Alvarez issue free if they would have bothered to pony up the money required. Eddie, who is currently the most sought-after free agent in mixed martial arts (MMA), claimed UFC's offer was better while Bjorn Rebney, Bellator CEO, revealed the offers were identical. Nevertheless, disagreements were had, lawsuits and injunctions were filed and the fighter's new home could be revealed as early as today (Jan. 25, 2013) when the two parties, Team Alvarez and Bellator, duke it out in court. Oh, the anxiety.