Champ Eddie Alvarez reportedly out of next week's Bellator 120 PPV headliner

Next week’s Bellator 120 event, which marks the organization’s debut on pay-per-view, has reportedly taken a big hit.

Reigning lightweight titleholder Eddie Alvarez (25-3 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) has reportedly suffered an injury and been forced out of his planned headliner and trilogy fight with ex-champ Michael Chandler (12-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA). Sherdog first reported the scratch, and MMAFighting.com subsequently confirmed Alvarez suffered a concussion during training.

According to Sherdog, Bellator 9 lightweight tournament winner Will Brooks (13-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) will step in as a replacement.

MMAjunkie could not reach Bellator officials for confirmation, and as of this morning, the organization hadn’t made a formal announcement about any changes. However, in Friday’s post-Bellator 119 press conference, Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said the fight was still on, though today’s reports contradict those comments.

Bellator 120 takes place next Saturday, May 17, at the Landers Center in Southaven, Miss., just outside of Memphis. After prelims on Spike TV and Spike.com, Bellator hosts its first PPV main card.

The organization planned its first PPV event, Bellator 106, back in November, but after Tito Ortiz was forced out of a scheduled headliner with Quinton Jackson, the event shifted to Spike TV. In the co-headliner of that event, Alvarez reclaimed his title from Chandler in one of 2013's best fights.

For now, though, it appears the trilogy – and the standout lightweights’ opportunity to headline a PPV event – will have to wait.

Chandler fights for the first since that November title loss, which came via split decision. After submitting Alvarez and taking the title in 2011, the 28-year-old scored stoppage wins over Akihiro Gono, Rick Hawn and David Rickels before the rematch-loss to Alvarez six months ago.

Brooks, meanwhile, is riding a four-fight winning streak that included tourney wins over John Alessio, Saad Awad and Alexander Sarnavskiy, all via decision. The 27-year-old avenged his only career loss with the victory over Awad.

For the latest on Bellator 120, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.