Demetrious Johnson & Eddie Alvarez Set For ONE World Grand Prix Tournaments
Demetrious Johnson & Eddie Alvarez have their first plans under the ONE Championship banner.
The Singapore-based promotion has revealed that their paths in the company will be similar. ONE revealed on Wednesday that the former UFC champions are slated to be part of upcoming World Grand Prix tournaments. Obviously, Johnson will compete in the flyweight division while Alvarez will compete in the lightweight division.
“ONE Championship is a different organization,” ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong said (H/T to MMAJunkie). “ONE Championship is for martial artists, by martial artists. Every fight promotion in the world wants to put on a fight.”
Alvarez went 4-3 with one no contest during his time with the UFC after signing with the promotion in 2014. This was after getting out of his contract with Bellator MMA where he was a two-time Bellator lightweight champion.
He would later go on to beat Gilbert Melendez, ex-UFC champ Anthony Pettis, and then-undisputed champ Rafael dos Anjos to win the title. He lost the title to Conor McGregor at the UFC 205 pay-per-view event. This was his climb to the top of the mountain of the UFC’s lightweight division.
ONE is planning on rebranding Alvarez as perhaps something different than the UFC did.
“In ONE Championship, we want to build and unleash real-life superheroes who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, inspiration, and courage. We want real martial artists to stand up.”
Sityodtong continued by stating that they want their fighters to be looked at heroes and fans live through them.
“Martial arts is not about fighting and violence. It is about unleashing your greatness in life. This is the real beauty of martial arts. I want the entire world to look at our heroes and be inspired through their lives because they bare their souls to the world with every triumph and every failure.”
According to Johnson, this opportunity to compete in a grand prix is bigger than what many would think. In fact, it will fulfill a dream he’s been looking to achieve for some time now.
“I spent seven years in North America fighting the best in the world,” Johnson said. “I’ve never traveled to Asia to fight the best. I think now is the perfect time to do it.”
Henry Cejudo shocked the world when he was able to beat Johnson to capture the UFC flyweight title by split decision. This fight ended up being Johnson’s last fight in the UFC. Johnson came into this fight looking to defend his title successfully for the 12th time in his career but that was not the case. Now, he’s looking forward.
“Now that they just announced a world grand prix for the flyweight division, it’s has always been a dream of mine to actually compete in Asia in a world grand prix.”
The former UFC flyweight champion made one promise known. That is his plans to compete in Asia and take no shortcuts.
“The biggest thing that you can expect from me for coming over here to compete in Asia is that I’ll do my best. I am taking no shortcuts.”
