ONE Championship’s “Century” card has lost one of its biggest stars, as former UFC and Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez has been forced out of the lightweight grand prix final.

Alvarez’s tourney run

Alvarez made his ONE debut this past March against Timofey Nastyukhin, in what was an opening round bout for the lightweight grand prix. Nastyukhin stunned the MMA world by stopping Alvarez in the first round.

When Nastyukhin went down with an injury, however, Alvarez was tapped to fight Eduard Folayang in the tourney’s semifinals last month. Alvarez scored a first round, submission win.

The decorated lightweight is out

Recently, however, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced that Alvarez can no longer fight Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev in the finals due to injury. As a result, lightweight champ Christian Lee will take on Arslanaliev in the finals.

NEWS ALERT: Eddie Alvarez has pulled out of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix due to injury. ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian Lee has agreed to step into the finals of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix to face Saygid Arslanaliev on Oct 13 in Tokyo at ONE: Century!!!

So, this is unfortunate news. But, the line-up for the October 13th, “Century” card remains ridiculously stacked. Tapping Lee for the finale is also an interesting move. Sityodtong has confirmed to MMA Junkie that Lee will not be defending the lightweight title against Arslanaliev.

ONE “Century” will be hosted by Tokyo, Japan.

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