After taking time to review the tape of his fight at ONE on TNT I, Eddie Alvarez believes the result needs to be overturned.
“I was able to watch the clip of the fight and see everything, and it was a bad call from the referee’s side,” Alvarez said following Wednesday’s event at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
In the opening round of the first ONE event to ever air in the U.S. live in primetime, Alvarez (10-3) took opponent Iuri Lapicus (15-1) to the canvas. Once there, Alvarez was able to take top position and control the legs, at which point Lapicus pressed his face against his opponent, leaving only the back of his head exposed.
Alvarez threw a few right hands that seemed to land to the back of the head, and referee Justin Brown issued a verbal warning. At that point, Lapicus fell back to the canvas, and Alvarez unleashed a few big hammerfists that ended the fight. However, rather than a TKO finish, Alvarez was issued a red card.
“If I was punching him in the back if the head, then you stand him up, right?” Alvaez asked. “And I get a point (deducted)? You don’t let me knock the guy out. I knocked the guy out. He turned his head, and they just let me keep hammerfisting him. Stand it up. If there’s illegal shots going on, stand the fight up.”
Alvarez, who was clearly emotional immediately following the fight, said Lapicus’ health is really of primary importance for now, but once that’s settled, he believes there’s only one proper course of action to take.
“I just need to sit down and talk to ONE, make sure they correct this,” Alvarez said. “It’s not right. What happened was not right.
“It shouldn’t have been a DQ. It was a mistake. Whoever made the final decision made a mistake, and I’m going to respectfully try to get it reversed. That’s all. I don’t want to get in a fight with anyone. I don’t want to be mad at anyone. I just want everything to go back and get looked at. I just want the truth. That’s it. I just want the truth.”
To see highlights from Alvarez’s post-fight media scrum, check out the video above.