Perhaps the most surprising result of the past weekend in MMA was Eddie Alvarez’s loss in his One Championship debut.
The former UFC and Bellator MMA champion suffered a technical knockout defeat against the unheralded Timofey Nastyukhin in the opening round of the lightweight grand prix at One “A New Era” in Tokyo on Sunday, his third setback in his last five fights.
Including a no contest against Dustin Poirier at UFC 211, Alvarez has won just once in his last five bouts overall. However, prior to facing Nastyukhin, those setbacks had come against Poirier and Conor McGregor, with a win over Justin Gaethje in between.
Alvarez released a statement regarding his performance via Instagram on Tuesday, expressing disappointment in his inability to pull the trigger during the abbreviated contest.
Hey guys, first and foremost congrats to Timofey in his victory. He is very deserving of everything that comes with victory and I wish him the best in the continued tournament.
Honestly speaking, how I fought my One Championship debut is not a reflection of my training my coaches, my team— it’s not even a reflection of my beliefs. I am sincerely disappointed and confused in my inability to not pull the trigger and my hesitancy on recent fight nights. It’s been quite confusing to figure out the past year or so.
Coach Mark [Henry] always stresses “Hesitancy is death” and it’s not something that is even in my character to do. In this particular fight, I waited too long for an opening and paid the ultimate price. The punch that hit me, instantly blinded me and split both eyelids in half. It felt like my eye exploded from the inside and the pain was instant.
From an outsider watching myself I should of have expected the result considering my actions. You have to punch, kick, takedown and pressure to win a fight. I waited . I simply waited too long for the correct timing and opening that never came.
Fighting continues to teach me life lessons [through] my victories and even more through tough defeats. Victory and defeat are by products of putting it on the line, they have been inescapable throughout my whole life. I hope to be judged on how I adjust and pivot from defeat and behave in victory rather than the result of a small moment in time.
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A post shared by Eddie Alvarez (@ealvarezfight) on Apr 2, 2019 at 10:12am PDT