Before dropping his 155-pound title to Michael Chandler last November, the last loss of Eddie Alvarez’s career was on December 31, 2008. Eight fights and a rise as one of the top lightweight fighters in the game later, Alvarez will get a chance to avenge that loss as he will rematch Shinya Aoki at Bellator 66 on Friday, April 20th.
The 28-year-old Aoki (30-5-0-1) will make his promotional debut riding a seven-fight win streak. The reigning DREAM lightweight champ had two fights with Strikeforce, losing a unanimous decision to Gilbert Melendez at the infamous April 2010 Nashville, TN, show and defeating Lyle Beerbohm by submission a year later on the Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley undercard.
As the fight approaches, expect to hear a lot more on Alvarez’s future with Bellator. Reports came out last month that he was having difficulties on a contract extension with the promotion, leading to speculation about why he didn’t choose to enter the upcoming lightweight tournament.
The 28-year-old has been with Bellator since April 2009, winning their first tournament and the lightweight belt with a second round submission of Toby Imada. He’s 6-1 inside the Bellator cage and six of his last seven wins have come via finish (five submissions/one TKO).
The show will be at Cleveland, OH’s I-X Convention Center with tickets ranging from $30 – $125.