Injured Eddie Alvarez bounced from ONE ‘Century,’ Saygid Arslanaliev now fights Christian Lee on Oct 13 in Tokyo

In a somewhat strange turn of events, former UFC lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, has been injured and pulled from the upcoming ONE: “Century” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on Oct. 13, 2019 inside Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

Strange because Alvarez was eliminated from the promotion’s lightweight grand prix back in March, but re-entered the tournament when the man who beat him, Russian bruiser Timofey Nastyukhin, pulled out with an injury of his own.

Stepping in for “The Underground King” is reigning ONE Championship lightweight kingpin Christian Lee, who captured the crown with a thrilling technical knockout win over Shinya Aoki at ONE: “Enter the Dragon” earlier this year in Singapore.

Lee (12-3) battles the 8-1 Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev and in keeping with the “strange” theme, won’t have to put his lightweight strap on the line; meaning, a loss for “The Warrior” will only cost him the chance to wear the promotion’s grand prix title.

Not sure how you can call yourself the champion of the division after losing to someone in your own weight class, so expect a win for Arslanaliev to set up an immediate rematch at some point in early 2020, if not sooner.

To see the rest of the ONE: “Century” fight card and line up, which airs stateside on TNT and B/R Live, click here and here.