Dan Hardy has given his thoughts on Eddie Alvarez’s controversial disqualification that took place at ONE on TNT 1 earlier this week.

Alvarez was hoping to take a big step towards challenging for ONE’s lightweight title in his return to the cage but instead, he endured a setback in the form of a disqualification loss to Iuri Lapicus.

The former UFC & Bellator star was given the DQ for hitting Lapicus with a string of supposedly illegal shots to the back of his head, although some fans have disputed the legitimacy of that claim.

During his own analysis of the fight, Dan Hardy gave his thoughts on the matter.

“So this is where it gets a bit chaotic,” he said. “Eddie’s got him tied up here and he’s in a position where he can land punches but they’re in a very precarious position. The referee leansover in a moment and warns him about these being back of the head. And it’s almost like Eddie doubles down on the fact that it’s not an illegal shot and goes to town. The problem is as soon as the referee warns him again about back of the head, then immediately Lapicus starts to play up to it.”

“Now this is where it gets frustrating. Because we can all see that Lapicus is playing up to the referee. We know he’s not that hurt. For a start he’s holding the wrong side of his head. He was hit on this side of the head and now he’s holding on to the other side. So this is what frustrates people and what gets people very animated about the decision the ref made to DQ Eddie.

“The unfortunate reality is the target area was illegal,” Hardy concluded. “They were illegal shots. The fact that the opponent was turning his head away doesn’t make those shots any less illegal. If I start a fight and I walk out backwards Genki Sudo style and they blast me on the back of the head, that’s still their fault because they’re targeting an area that’s an illegal shot.”

Quotes courtesy of MMA Mania

Do you think Eddie Alvarez’s shots were illegal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, BJPENN Nation!