Eddie Alvarez’s long-awaited return to the cage ended in controversy on Wednesday night in the first fight on the ONE on TNT map from Singapore.
After a twenty-month dismissal, the former UFC champion faced the recent ONE light title challenger Iuri Lapicus in a fight that could possibly spur Alvarez in his Asian promotion in his own hold on gold. Instead, Alvarez will go home with a disqualification loss on his record after Lapicus could not proceed to beatings deemed illegal by the referee.
The end was pretty quick in the opening round after Alvarez secured a removal and started dropping off with Lapicus on the ground. While Lapicus turned his head to avoid the barrage of shots, Alvarez just kept dropping him off as he watched the finish.
Unfortunately, Lapicus grabbed the back of his head as he fell on the mat as the referee interrupted the action while admonishing Alvarez for landing the illegal shots. Alvarez did not agree that the shots he landed were illegal, but after Lapicus could not continue, the referee lifted a red card, meaning a disqualification in ONE championship.
‘Iuri turned his head the other way and the referee warned me, he told me’ back of the head, Eddie. ‘, Alvarez explains after the fight. So you see me take my head and I start punching his head to my fist. You see it on the tape. If the ref. My warning, I take my own head and push Iuris to the side of the fist. On top of that, I feel like I’m hitting the ear at some point, or it’s legal. ”
‘The referee is here, no matter how he calls, it’s the call. I apologize. I hope Iuri is totally good because this game is so dangerous. All I care about is that everyone here is genuinely safe and can go home to their family when they are done. I now pray for Iuri. ‘
There was no further update on Lapicus’ condition after the fight was stopped.
It’s a tough end for Alvarez, who wanted to kick off the first ONE championship card ever in the United States for the first time in an exciting way, but rather go home with a disqualification loss for Lapicus on his record.