Eddie Alvarez believes he beat Iuri Lapicus despite what the ref said.
On Wednesday night, the former Bellator and UFC champion made his return to the ring against Lapicus in a very intriguing bout. Early on, Alvarez was having a ton of success and as he was landing ground and pound but the ref warned him of shots behind the ear.
After the ref gave him a verbal warning, Alvarez pushed Lapicus’ head so his shots landed clean. Yet, the ref pulled him off and DQ’d the former champ for illegal shots.
Now, after watching the fight back and seeing the support of fighters and media saying it was legal, he hopes ONE Championship overturns the call.
“I just want to make sure that they correct this. It’s not right. What happened, it’s not right,” Alvarez said after the fight (h/t MMAFighting). “After looking at the tape and after seeing the outpouring of the media that’s basically saying something went wrong in there today on the judging side, I’ve just got mixed emotions about everything.
“I don’t see how it’s not overturned. I don’t discredit anyone based on what happens inside that cage. Referee, judging, all that. It’s high emotions and you have to make decisions based on a split second and I think the replay and after everybody goes back and looks will see everything was done righteously. I won fair and square,” Alvarez continued. “I’m not trying to anger anyone or climb up any trees. I won tonight. I won. I just hope that they go back and look at it and reverse the decision. I’ve made decisions in my past and I’ll be a man and step up and say that it was wrong. But tonight, I won. I think the American media and a lot of media know that I did and are pissed off about it.”
ONE Championship did not say if they will look into the ref’s call. Yet, Alvarez hopes they do the right thing and overturn the DQ.
