ONE Championship: Eddie Alvarez in tears after red card, disqualification for ‘illegal shots’ with Iuri Lapicus stretchered out
- ‘The Underground King’ DQ’d for supposedly landing blows to back of Lapicus’ head in dramatic start to ONE on TNT 1 main card
- Alvarez says he feels ‘messed up’ and is ‘praying for Iuri’ in emotional post-fight interview
ONE Championship’s big month of TNT cards got off to a dramatic start when Eddie Alvarez was disqualified for supposed illegal shots to the back of Iuri Lapicus’ head in the first round on Thursday morning.
Lapicus was stretchered out of the Circle at the Singapore Indoor Stadium after former UFC lightweight champ Alvarez was eventually shown a red card by the official after minutes of confusion.
Around a minute into the fight, Alvarez took Lapicus down against the side of the cage and started throwing several seemingly borderline strikes to the left side of Lapicus’ head and ear, with the referee giving a verbal warning to watch the back of the head.
One strike then caused the Moldovan to let out a scream of pain, and he dropped his head to the mat. Alvarez landed a few extra shots to the face while Lapicus was down, and the referee stepped in and called a timeout.
Alvarez shook his head in disbelief and stated his innocence, saying they were shots to the ear, but Lapicus was unable to continue and the fight ended in a disqualification loss.