Eddie Alvarez Expects ONE Championship Debut On March 31

Eddie Alvarez believes his ONE Championship debut will take place in Tokyo, Japan.

Alvarez signed with ONE Championship back in October. “The Underground King” fought out of his UFC contract. The former UFC lightweight champion decided it made sense to sign with the Asia-based promotion over staying with the UFC.

Alvarez recently appeared on BJPenn Radio. During the appearance, he said that a March 31 event in Tokyo is likely where he’ll be making his ONE debut:

“They want to have a coming out party in Tokyo, I believe. It’s in Japan and it’s going to be in March, the end of March. That’ll be the first round of the tournament, I believe.”

While a rubber match with Shinya Aoki is possible in the future, Alvarez believes there are greater challenges ahead:

“I mean there’s a number of fighters in the division. There’s actually guys I feel like are harder and better match ups than Shinya, but I’d imagine that Shinya keeps winning that we’re going to cross paths. But I’m looking forward to everyone. I’ve always been of the mind that just because someone is more popular, doesn’t make them a better fighter. I mean, [earlier in my career] I’ve always been the less popular guy, but in my heart I knew that I could be the best in the world anywhere. So I’m sure there’s guys just like that here that are very unpopular and very good at fighting and I’m looking forward to running into them.”

It was recently revealed that ONE Championship scored a U.S. television deal with Turner Sports. Events will air on TNT and the digital platform B/R Live.