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Regian Eersel shares lessons learned from ‘tough’ title defense at ONE 156
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Regian Eersel (left) and Arian Sadikovic in the ONE Championship ring. (ONE Championship)
O
NE lightweight kickboxing world champion Regian “The Immortal” Eersel put on another dominant display on April 22 to retain his gold but conceded that it had not been without adversity.
In a rare occurrence in his career, the Dutch-Surinamese suffered a knockdown in the second round but managed to bounce back to dominate Arian Sadikovic for the rest of the fight. After the fight went the distance, his hand was raised and he defended his belt for the fourth time.
“It was really close, in my opinion. But this was one of my toughest fights inside ONE Championship,” Eersel said. “I enjoyed the fight. It didn’t seem that way. But you know, I’m a fighter. I like a good fight. I think I put on a good fight for the fans also. So yeah, I enjoyed it.”
The knockdown served as a wake-up call for the 29-year-old divisional king as he started to bombard his opponent with his trademark flying knees, switch kicks and rangy boxing combinations while utilizing his reach to block his opponent’s attack.
With that victory, “The Immortal” kept his flawless ONE Championship record to 7-0 and won his 19th straight bout overall for the past six years.
“The biggest lesson [that I learned]? I think I have to be sharper. He was talking to me, and that distracted me a little bit. You fight somebody and punch, and they say, ‘Come on, come on’. And then I started talking back, so I was like, getting into his game. I think that was a disadvantage for me. But it’s a lesson,” he said.
“I enjoyed this one very much because this was a challenge for me. I got my first eight-count in ONE Championship. It’s a lesson for me. Each fight is a lesson for me, and I think I’m getting better with each fight. This experience was good for me.”
Watch ONE 157 on May 20 on the ONE Super App and subscribe to ONE Championship on YouTube!
This article is published in collaboration with ONE Championship
