ONE Champ Lee: 1-3 Eddie’s ‘Gotta Do More’ For A Title Shot

MMA News

ONE Champ Lee: 1-3 Eddie’s ‘Gotta Do More’ For A Title Shot

ONE Championship

Eddie Alvarez may be the biggest star in the ONE lightweight division, but his record with the promotion makes it a hard sell to give him a shot at the belt.

It’s been a rough ride for many of the UFC expats who have left the promotion for ONE Championships. There’s Demetrious Johnson, who lost off a massive knee to the face while grounded (legal in ONE). Sage Northcutt, whose face was literally smashed in by Cosmo Alexandre. And then Eddie Alvarez, who has gone 1-2-1 in the promotion.

That iffy record (with his two fights in 2021 a No Contest to Iuri Lapicus and decision loss to Ok Rae Yoon) didn’t stop Alvarez from calling out current ONE Championship lightweight champion Christian Lee.

“I don’t need Christian for my legacy,” Alvarez said when asked why he should get the title fight. “I don’t need him. He needs me. To prove to the world that he can beat someone like me. I don’t need to prove to anyone that I can beat someone like Christan Lee, I’ve beat a hundred of him.”

Now Lee is responding, and it doesn’t sound like he’s taking the bait.

“Whenever they sign a big name, a guy like Eddie, he’s definitely a guy I’d like to fight once he got signed to the promotion,” Lee said in a recent interview. “But, you know, nothing against him, but he’s 1-3 in the promotion, and as much as I want to fight him, it’d be a good draw, he’s gotta do more before he can get a title shot.”

Hey, you have to forgive Lee for counting that NC as an L, maybe he was using the Sherdog Fight Finder to compile Eddie’s record.

As you can see, Eddie completely believes his recent record doesn’t reflect the reality he is attempting to create around himself as a McGregor type deserving of a shot at any moment. Alas, there’s limits to these things and it’s hard to buy Alvarez’s story on what happened in his last fight against Ok Rae Yoon when there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Surely ONE can set up the much needed rematch against Iuri Lapicus, and if Eddie smashes him (in a more legal fashion this time), then we can talk about a title shot. Maybe. But with Alvarez not even in the ONE lightweight top 5 rankings, the reality may be he’s more of a star attraction these days than top contender.

https://www.mmamania.com/2021/5/31/22461885/one-champ-christian-lee-1-3-eddie-alvarez-has-gotta-do-more-if-he-wants-a-title-shot