ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion Regian Eersel defends his belt at ONE: WINTER WARRIORS in 2021.
S
ince becoming the ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion since taking the inaugural belt in 2019, Regian Eersel has dominated three tough challengers to defend his crown so far. Next, Eersel will face the heavy-handed striker, Arian Sadikovic at the main event of ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic on April 22.
“The Immortal” is ready to put his title at stake once more. The Dutch-Surinamese martial arts star met the challenger when they competed in their respective bouts at ONE: WINTER WARRIORS in December, though the champ had no idea who it was sizing him up.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by ONE Championship (@onechampionship)
“I saw him [at the event on December], and he looked at me like, ‘I’m going to get you next time,’” Eersel recalled. “I was like, who is this guy looking at me like he’s going to fight me?”
At that time, Sadikovic had just earned a debut victory in ONE over Mustapha Haida, which earned him a shot at the title.
While the German is known for his hulking physique and penchant for throwing hard strikes to overwhelm his opponents, that biggest strength may also expose him to Eersel’s dangerous kicks. Besides he has several centimeters’ disadvantage over the reigning champion.
Read also: Former rivals Reinier de Ridder and Aung La N Sang come together for training session
The champion has noted the disadvantages his dance partner has and predicted that this fight will be a short one. Eersel stated that he will exploit every opening his opponent presents in their match up and capitalize on any mistakes he might make.
“I do not think this fight will go the distance, he has a lot of holes in his style and I think I’ll find them,” Eersel explained. “It’s not like he’s not good at some points, but when you [try to] pressure the opponent, you also open yourself up, I think I’ll use this to my advantage.”
The dominant champion also explained that he is excited to battle it out with an opponent with a great boxing style. The lightweight kickboxing king has been used to opponents who focus on speed and precision.
The Sityodtong Amsterdam representative has also said that he aims to achieve legendary status with this fight, he wants to have a fight that fans will remember for years to come. Eersel, who is riding an 18-fight win streak, is confident that he will finish this fight via a knockout within the first three rounds.
“My strength is in the power of my knee [strikes], and also my fight intelligence where I can adapt to my opponent.” Eersel explained. “When I’m in the ring, I’m just in kill mode and I just do what I was taught in training.”
“It will end by knockout. I’m not one to [know] what will happen in the future, but I think I’ll do it by the third round,” he continued.
Catch ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic live on Vidio.com, Kaskus TV, NETVERSE or MAXstream beginning with the lead card at 4 p.m. western Indonesian time (WIB) this Friday.
The main card broadcasts live on Vidio.com, Kaskus TV, NETVERSE and MAXstream at 7:30 p.m. WIB. Also, NET TV will air a same-day delay at 10 p.m. WIB.
This article is published in collaboration with ONE Championship