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ONE Championship
Martial ArtsMixed Martial Arts

One Championship: Eddie Alvarez taken to hospital after submitting Eduard Folayang in comeback win

  • ‘The Underground King’ survives early onslaught before making Filipino tap with a rear-naked choke, saying ‘I pictured this’
  • Former UFC star misses post-fight press conference to get treatment for unspecified injury

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Eddie Alvarez submits Eduard Folayang. Photos: One Championship
Nicolas Atkin

For the second time in his two fights with One Championship, Eddie Alvarez ended up in hospital. But he won’t have minded at all on this occasion.

The American had said he wasn’t leaving Manila without a win. Alvarez went into the lion’s den at the Mall of Asia Arena, and silenced the 15,000-capacity crowd by submitting their hero Eduard Folayang in the first round.

He did not appear at One’s post-fight press conference on Friday night, with officials telling the Post he had been taken to hospital. They did not specify his injuries, but his leg looked badly hurt when he crumpled to the floor after a brutal kick by Folayang.

Alvarez probably won’t care – he heads off to Palawan in the Philippines on Saturday for a holiday with his wife, Jamie, who travelled with him to Manila.

Eddie Alvarez celebrates his victory against Eduard Folayang.
Eddie Alvarez celebrates his victory against Eduard Folayang.

His five children didn’t. “I know all my kids are watching at home, I love you guys,” he said in his interview in the ring. “I love you Manila,” he added. Manila certainly was disappointed, but showed respect to “The Underground King”. The crowd was on its feet screaming when Folayang chopped him down with that mighty leg kick early in the first round, though.

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