It was announced that Regian Eersel would be defending his lightweight kickboxing title against Mustapha Haida this month. That match appears to have fallen through but the Dutch fighter is hoping he won’t have to wait too long to get back in the ring again.
“I don’t have goals or plans, I just hope I can fight. Two, three, four times, maybe five or six, the more fights, the better.”
After winning three ONE Super Series bouts out of three in 2019, including two title fights against Nieky Holzken, he did not get to compete at all in 2020. It was the longest the former Lion Fight 160lbs champion had gone without a fight but he never stopped training,
“Before this, the longest time I had not fought for was ten months, so it wasn’t completely new to me, but it was a long time. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to fight but it’s out of my head now. What could I do? I just kept on training. That was easy for me, the motivation is always there. It doesn’t matter if there is a pandemic, no events, anything, I will keep training!”
Ready for anyone
He trained for a fight with Haida but it sounds like it is not happening. There are a couple of other fighters who Eersel is interested in facing,
“There is nobody, in particular, I want to fight. I would be happy with anybody. After the last year, I just want to fight. I have prepared for Mustapha Haida, so I can face him. Nieky, I have beaten two times already. John Wayne Parr is a good fighter, a veteran. I have a lot of respect for him, but he is not the biggest challenge for me.”
He would also be interested in switching from kickboxing to MMA. Eersel says he has already started studying the ground game,
“I am still training in BJJ, and I have plans to do mixed martial arts. I’ve started training for it already, but when I have a fight booked, I focus on kickboxing only. Once out of training for a fight, I pick it back up again. I think I could fight in mixed martial arts within two years, I just have to get my ground game up, and then I will be good to go.”
Patient approach
Many of the kickboxers on the ONE Super Series roster fought in the K-1 Max tournaments, like Holzken. Eersel is part of a younger generation and didn’t arrive with such a big name but has established himself as one of the top stand up fighters on the roster.
His fights with Holzken were both fun for the fans. They will be wondering when Eersel will be defending his belt again and the Dutch fighter admits he is in exactly the same situation,
“Have patience. That is the only thing I can say. I don’t want to wait too long, either!”
