Iuri Lapicus passes away in hospital: What happened to the former ONE Championship title challenger?

It was a sad day in the MMA community as former ONE Championship title challenger Iuri Lapicus passed away in a hospital. He was 27 years old.

The Moldovan was involved in a motorcycle crash last week and passed away due to injuries he sustained in the accident. According to a report from Milano Today, he crashed into another vehicle that was traveling in northwest Milan and needed to be airlifted to a hospital, where he was in a coma.

ONE Championship commented on his passing in a statement, where they confirmed the sad news and expressed their condolences to his family, writing:

"The ONE Champonship team is heartbroken over the tragic passing of Iuri Lapicus...Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones at this difficult time."

This is tragic, especially considering how young he was and how he had his whole career and life ahead of him.

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What was Iuri Lapicus' MMA record?

Iuri Lapicus was an accomplished fighter in the ONE Championship who showed a lot of potential.

He had an MMA record of 14-2-1. He was unbeaten with a 14-0 MMA record prior to 2020, when he suffered his first career loss to Christian Lee at ONE Championship - Inside the Matrix.

Following the loss, he fought Eddie Alvarez to a no-contest after the former UFC lightweight champion was originally disqualified for landing punches to the back of the head. But the result was later overturned.

The Molodovan's final fight took place at ONE Championship - One on Prime Video 1, where Zebaztian Kadestam defeated him via knockout at 57 seconds of the first round.