Former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez suffered a disastrous debut in the ONE FC promotion this past weekend.
Alvarez had been lined up to fight Russian fighter Timofey Nastyukhin in the quarter-finals of ONE FC’s lightweight grand-prix, which on paper seemed like a winnable fight (his opponent had been KO’d in his last outing in the promotion after all) but that’s not it played out.
Instead, late in the first round, Alvarez was caught by a left hook and then two punches behind it that seemed to stun him and put him in reverse gear.
A right hand then an uppercut troubled him further and with his back now against the cage he then crumpled to the canvas as more offense landed, leading to big upset TKO victory for Nastyukhin.
Elsewhere on the card, another former UFC star Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson also made his debut and earned a second round guillotine choke submission victory over Yuya Wakamatsu.
The card was also notable for featuring what would prove to the be the first ever loss of one of it’s biggest stars, atomweight champion Angela Lee, who was unsuccessful in her attempt to win the strawweight title, being TKO’d by Xoing Jingnan in the fifth round.
Meanwhile, the main event saw Shinya Aoki win ONE FC’s lightweight title with a first round arm triangle submission against Eduard Folayang.
Check out all the results from ONE FC: A New Era below.
Shinya Aoki def. Eduard Folayang by submission (arm-triangle choke). Round 1, 2:34 – for lightweight title
Jingnan Xiong def. Angela Lee by TKO (strikes). Round 5, 1:37 – for women’s strawweight title
Aung La Nsang def. Ken Hasegawa by knockout (strikes). Round 2, 4:41 – for middleweight title
Bibiano Fernandes def. Kevin Belingon by DQ (illegal elbows). Round 3 – for bantamweight title
Demetrious Johnson def. Yuya Wakamatsu by submission (guillotine choke). Round 2, 2:40 – flyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Timofey Nastyukhin def. Eddie Alvarez by TKO (strikes). Round 1, 4:05 – lightweight grand prix quarterfinal
Kickboxing: Yodsanklai Fairtex def. Andy Souwer by knockout (strikes). Round 2, 0:51
Danny Kingad def. Senzo Ikeda by unanimous decision – flyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Kairat Akhmetov def. Reece McLaren by unanimous decision – flyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Muay Thai: Rodtang Jitmuangnon def. Hakim Hamech by split decision
Kickboxing: Joseph Lasiri def. Hiroki Akimoto by majority decision
Mei Yamaguchi def. Kseniya Lachkova by submission. Round 3, 3:18
Garry Tonon def. Anthony Engelen by TKO. Round 1, 4:12
Muay Thai: Panicos Yusuf def. Mohammed Bin Mahmoud by unanimous decision
Yoon Chang Min def. Bala Shetty by submission. Round 1, 4:16
