In mixed martial arts, if you fight at the elite level for long enough, you’ll almost certainly taste defeat.

That’s not to say it doesn’t often leave us shocked — particularly if one fighter is touted as being ‘meant to win’.

Such is the case with Eddie Alvarez, who recently headed to ONE Championship only to be finished by his opponent by heavy strikes. As is often the way with a high profile fighter moving to a new promotion, Alvarez was the heavy favourite going in, meaning his loss to Timofey Nastyukhin was a stunning turn of events.

According to Alvarez, who released a statement to social media today, the defeat is all on his own shoulders — and down to an absolutely brutal punch that split his eye in half.

Check out Alvarez’ comments below:

View this post on Instagram

Hey guys First and foremost congrats to Timofey in his victory , He is very deserving of everything that comes with victory and I wish him the best in the continued tournament . Honestly speaking how I fought my One Championship debut is not a reflection of my training my coaches , my team , it’s not even a reflection of my beliefs . I am sincerely disappointed and confused in my inability to not pull the trigger and my hesitancy on recent fight nights , it’s been quite confusing to figure out the past year or so . Coach Mark always stresses “hesitancy is Death” and it’s not something that is even in my character to do . In this particular fight I waited too long for an opening and paid the ultimate price . The punch that hit me , instantly blinded me and split both eyelids in half . It felt like my eye exploded from the inside and the pain was instant . From an outsider watching myself I should of have expected the result considering my actions . You have to punch , kick , takedown and pressure to win a fight , I waited . I simply waited too long for the correct timing and opening that never came . Fighting continues to teach me life lessons thru my victories and even more through tough defeats . Victory and defeat are by products of putting it on the line , they have been inescapable throughout my whole life . I hope to be judged on how I adjust and pivot from defeat and behave in victory rather than the result of a small moment in time . To my Wife /kids family , coaches , teams mates , friends and to all the fans , thank you always for your continued support , doing this is very lonely and isolated , a simple pat on the back goes a long long way . Thank you thank you thank you . I will make adjustments and come back true to form 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼 #UGK

A post shared by Eddie Alvarez (@ealvarezfight) on Apr 2, 2019 at 10:12am PDT

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