User blog comment:SpookyBoogie27/Light Novel Spoilers/@comment-8.28.150.75-20140210091944/@comment-24501441-20140211182920

Yeah, I don't agree that the loss against Sitri was embarrassing. Saji didn't beat him one on one, seeing as how Issei was still fighting after Saji retired, it was the Sitri as a group that defeated him. He was also the target from the beginning so there's another disadvantage for him. Also as B214 said, the rules said they couldn't destroy the mall, limiting Issei on the kind of damage he could do as well as causing him not to have Ascalon (which could have cut the line) because Xenovia couldn't control Durandal in the fight. Also take into account that Issei was still new to using his BB so there were two minutes after he was caught that Saji was able to beat on Issei when he couldn't use his sacred gear. I thought that the way he lost that fight no where comes close to being called embarrassing.