A One Championship belt sits near the cage during The One: Kings & Conquerors event at the Venetian Macao in Macau, on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"The ONE Championship team is heartbroken over the tragic passing of Iuri Lapicus," the company told ESPN in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones at this difficult time."
Lapicus was identified as the man who lost control of his motorcycle and collided with a car in Pogliano Milanese, near Milan, on Friday, according to Sherdog. The other person involved in the crash was identified as a 69-year-old woman who didn’t suffer serious injuries in the crash.
The MMA fighter was taken to a Milan hospital and fell into a coma, Il Giorno reported. He died three days later.
Lapicus lost to Christian Lee in a welterweight title fight in October 2020 in the first round via technical knockout. He had wins over Shannon Wiratchai and Marat Gafurov before earning his title shot.
Strawweight World Championship belt is displayed during ONE Strawweight World Championship: Grit and Glory between Yoshitaka Naito of Japan and Alex Silva of Brazil at Jakarta Convention Center on May 12, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images)
Before ONE Championship, Lapicus fought for several promotions and won his first 14 fights as a professional fighter.