Regian Eersel overcame a jaw-dropping knockdown in the second round of his main event battle against Arian Sadikovic to retain his ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Championship, while 17-year-old Smilla Sundell became the promotion’s youngest-ever world champion by defeating Jackie Buntan for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Title in the co-main event.

Dubbed “The Immortal,” Eersel is on a six-year winning streak and has yet to be defeated in the ONE circle. Arian Sadikovic gave the Surinamese-Dutch powerhouse his biggest scare yet, though, after a knee to the face sent Eersel onto his back and at risk of not answering the referee’s eight-count.

It took another three rounds of nail-biting action to determine Eersel’s unanimous decision victory, and German warrior Sadikovic took the champion right to the last second.

“The Immortal” stuck to his game plan of cutting down his opponent's legs with low kicks while going high with his knees and landing hooks to the abdomen, and that proved to be enough to secure his fourth successful title defense.

Just before that tussle took place, Swedish phenom Smilla Sundell squared off with Filipina-American superstar Jackie Buntan for the inaugural women's strawweight Muay Thai gold.

While Buntan began the battle strong and maintained her presence throughout the bout, Sundell’s pressure gradually took its toll. “The Hurricane’s” flurries of blows to Buntan’s face ultimately made it difficult for the Boxing Works athlete to either see or retaliate.

That helped Sundell secure the title and make history as ONE’s youngest ever world champion at 17 years, 10 months, and five days old.

Read also: Jarred Brooks believes he will overwhelm Bokang Masunyane in title eliminator bout

Eersel, Sundell, and Mikey Musumeci received a US$50,000 performance bonus, while Liam Harrison received a stunning $100,000 for his showing against Muangthai PK. Saenchai.

The complete results for ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic are as follows:

Main Card:

• Regian Eersel defeated Arian Sadikovic via unanimous decision to retain the ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Title
• Smilla Sundell defeated Jackie Buntan via unanimous decision to claim the ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Title
• Jarred Brooks defeated Bokang Masunyane via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:39 of round one (mixed martial arts – catchweight of 128)
• Liam Harrison defeated Muangthai PK.Saenchai via TKO at 2:19 of round one (Muay Thai – bantamweight)
• Song Min Jong defeated Chen Rui via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:26 of round two (mixed martial arts – bantamweight)
• Danial Williams defeated Namiki Kawahara via unanimous decision (mixed martial arts – strawweight)

Lead Card:

• Gustavo Balart defeated Yosuke Saruta via unanimous decision (mixed martial arts – strawweight)
• Andrei Stoica defeated Giannis Stoforidis via majority decision (kickboxing – light heavyweight)
• Anissa Meksen defeated Marie Ruumet via unanimous decision (Muay Thai – atomweight)
• Windson Ramos defeated Woo Sung Hoon via unanimous decision (mixed martial art – flyweight)
• Dayane Cardoso defeated Ayaka Miura via TKO at 0:56 of round two (mixed martial arts – women’s strawweight)
• Abraao Amorim defeated Dae Sung Park via TKO at 1:20 of round two (mixed martial arts – lightweight)
• Jin Tae Ho defeated Agilan Thani via submission (kimura) at 2:23 of round one (mixed martial arts – welterweight)
• Mikey Musumeci defeated Masakazu Imanari via rear-naked choke at 4:09 (submission grappling – catchweight of 143 pounds)
• Keanu Subba defeated James Yang via unanimous decision (mixed martial arts – featherweight)

Watch ONE 157 on May 20 at ONE Super App and subscribe to ONE Championship on YouTube!

This article is published in collaboration with ONE Championship

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