“It just didn’t line up” - Christian Lee on why he and Eddie Alvarez did not fight inside the circle
Two-time ONE lightweight world champion Christian Lee is riding strong momentum after successfully reclaiming his throne from Ok Rae Yoon back in August.
Instead of facing one of the many lethal assassins lined up to face him in his weight class, 'The Warrior' chose to move up to welterweight with the hopes of becoming a two-division world champ.
In the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4, Lee will face ONE welterweight king, Kiamrian Abbasov. If Lee wins ONE's 185-pound strap, it will effectively shake up both the lightweight and welterweight divisions.
There's a wealth of contenders in both weight classes. One former contender who was discussed heavily as Christian Lee's possible future adversary is multi-time world champion Eddie 'The Underground King' Alvarez.
Alvarez, upon entering ONE Championship in 2019, was highly considered to be the next person to give Lee a run for his money in his division. It was, however, not to be as 'The Underground King' had a less-than-stellar run in the promotion. Alvarez went 1-2-1 in the promotion before parting ways amicably this year.
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Tell me whose next ?UGKConfirmed ,I am no longer with ONE. We parted ways amicably and I remain on good terms with the ONE team. I want to thank Chatri for the opportunity and I look forward to watching their continued success. I’m officially a free agent and Ready to Hunt 👊🏼🔪 Tell me whose next ?UGK
Meanwhile, Lee was busy winning, defending, and regaining the ONE lightweight world title. In an interview with SCMP MMA, Christian Lee gave his thoughts on why he and Alvarez never got to meet inside the circle:
"For a while, there was a lot of talk about me and Eddie [Alvarez] fighting. He’s definitely a fighter I would [have loved] to face in the circle. But the thing is, it just didn’t line up. I quickly made my way up to the top of the lightweight division."
Watch the full interview below:
Christian Lee believes Eddie Alvarez "came up short" on his chances to challenge him for the belt
In the same interview, Christian Lee elaborated on what he thought was the reason Eddie Alvarez never got a shot at his belt back when the American MMA icon was still in ONE. Apparently, it's also what most of us thought.
Lee said:
"Eddie was trying to get a shot at the title but he came up short on a few of his chances. He had that unfortunate ending with Iuri Lapicus and he faced a decision loss to Ok [Rae Yoon]. And so that’s why we were never able to face [each other] in the circle."
On his ONE debut, Alvarez was shockingly knocked out by Timofey Nastyukhin in the first round. After this, he narrowly got past former ONE lightweight king Eduard Folayang.
In his third bout in the promotion, Alvarez racked up an unfortunate no-contest against Iuri Lapicus due to an accidental foul. 'The Underground King' then capped off his stint in ONE with a decision loss to eventual world champion Ok Rae Yoon in 2021.
Indeed, Alvarez's run in ONE Championship left a lot to be desired. If things panned out differently, however, it would have been a treat to see him fight Christian Lee for the belt. That would have undoubtedly been an instant classic.