ONE Championship: Eddie Alvarez says ‘I won the fight’; wants DQ loss to Iuri Lapicus overturned

‘The Underground King’ insists it was ‘a bad call on the referee’s side’ after watching fight in hotel room

ONE boss Chatri Sityodtong says however ‘the problem is there were four or five illegal blows, we reviewed it three times’

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The referee calls a time out after deeming that Eddie Alvarez has landed illegal blows to the back of Iuri Lapicus’ head. Photos: ONE Championship

Published: 2:09pm, 8 Apr 2021Updated: 6:59pm, 8 Apr 2021

Eddie Alvarez has called for his ONE on TNT 1 disqualification loss to Iuri Lapicus to be overturned after insisting the referee made “a bad call”.

Former UFC lightweight champ Alvarez was shown a red card by the official in a dramatic start to ONE Championship’s first main card of an April series on the US prime time television network.

The 37-year-old was deemed to have landed several illegal shots to the back of Lapicus’ head in the first round, with the Moldovan unable to continue and stretchered out of the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“I went back to my room and I was able to watch the clip of the fight and see everything and it was a bad call on the referee’s side,” an emotional Alvarez told SCMP MMA in a passionate post-fight interview.

“The American media is in uproar right now and so are the American fans, and I’m gonna respectfully ask them to look back at the video and reverse their call.”

Alvarez added “we’re already texting, trying to get this reserved” but those efforts could prove futile, as ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong later said he thought Alvarez’s blows were illegal.