ONE Championship’s ‘A New Era’ show delivered the goods. A card headlined by a four-piece of title fights was nonetheless most notable for two fighters making their debuts on the undercard — in the quarter-final rounds of the promotion’s lightweight and flyweight tournaments. Former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson hit the ONE cage for the first time in the Singapore-based promotion’s first ever event in Japan.
Both men were expected to make large impacts at their new home, as elite competitors coming to the UFC in the late-prime of their careers. While both Alvarez and DJ left the Octagon on a loss, in Johnson’s case it was a controversial split decision to current champ Henry Cejudo — cutting off ‘Mighty Mouse’’s record setting streak of title defenses.