Regian Eersel
Regian Eersel (born 16 December 1992) is a Surinamese-Dutch kickboxer currently signed to ONE Championship. He is the current ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Champion. As of March 2022, he was ranked the #1 welterweight in the world by Combat Press. He has been continually ranked in the top 10 since March 2019. Biography. Eersel was born in Paramaribo, Suriname and moved to the Netherlands with his family when he was four years old. At the age of 15, he started training at Sityodtong Gym in Amsterdam. His nickname, The Immortal, was given to Eersel in this early  amateur era. His teammates gave it to him, as he never used the break time between the rounds to sit and regain breath. As it was not easy to find competitors in the Netherlands after becoming a professional athlete in his weightclass, he tried his luck abroad. In Baku, Azerbaijan, Eersel took part in a K1-tournament, where he qualified for the finals. He did not win the finals, but the hunger for more had started. After this Eersel was invited for competitions in his country of birth Surinam, Russia (W5), Greece, Germany, Turkey (Mix Fight Gala), the US (Legacy  and Lion Fight) and China (Wu Lin Feng, Glory of Heroes). Kickboxing career. Early years. In his debut with Lion Fight, Regian fought Jo Nattawut. He won the fight in the fifth round, with a head kick knockout. After defeating the two weight Lion Fight champion, Eersel was given a chance to fight for the Super Middleweight title, with his opponent being Jake Purdy. Eersel won the fight by a second round TKO. He then fought Chen Yawei during Mix Fight Gala 20, winning the fight by a first round KO. Eersel made his first Lion Fight title defense against  Dewitt Pratt, whom he beat with a knockout in the first round. Eersel took part in the Mix Fight Gala 78.5 kg tournament. He beat Marco Pleschberger in the semi finals by TKO, and Sergej Braun in the finals by KO. Regian made his second title defense against Matous Kohout, winning the fight by a fifth round KO. His third title defense came during Lion Fight 50, when he defeated Joakim Hagg by a fifth round TKO. ONE Championship. Eersel made his ONE Championship debut against Brad Riddell, in April 2018. Eersel won the fight by a unanimous decision. In  his second fight with the organization, he scored a second round KO over Anthony Njokuani. The fight ended in some controversy, as Njokuani claimed an illegal elbow led to his stoppage loss, and appealed the decision. On May 17, 2019, he won the ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Championship by beating Nieky Holzken. The same year, Eersel faced Holzken in a rematch on October 25, which he won by unanimous decision. Eersel was scheduled to make his second title defense against Mustapha Haida at . However, Haida was forced to withdraw after sustaining an injury, leading to the cancellation of their bout . Regian Eersel was later scheduled to defend the ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Championship against Islam Murtazaev at on March 19, 2021. Murtazaev himself would later withdraw, for undisclosed reasons, and was replaced by Mustapha Haida. Eersel successfully defended the title by unanimous decision. Eersel defended his title against Islam Murtazaev at on December 3, 2021. He won the bout via split decision. Eersel is scheduled to make his fourth ONE lightweight title defense against Arian Sadikovic at on April 8, 2022. Despite suffering an early knockdown, Eersel rallied back to win the following rounds and retain his title by unanimous  decision. He was awarded a $50,000 bonus for winning the fight. Kickboxing record. ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white |