Making his debut for the Singapore-based promotion Sunday at the “A New Era” show in Tokyo, Japan, Alvarez was overwhelmed by Russian knockout artist Timofey Nastyukhin. The 29-year-old did not seem at all intimidated by the former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion and he put Alvarez away with strikes at the 4:05 mark of round one.
“I feel very good,” Nastyukhin said afterwards via a translator. “It’s my style, I love to finish fights in the first round by knockout, so I did it.”
Competing for the first time since a TKO-loss to Dustin Poirer at UFC on FOX 30 last July, Alvarez (29-7, 1 NC) struggled to get anything going against the aggressive Nastyukhin.