"He was just a man like me" - Alexis Nicolas shares how he unraveled Regian Eersel's aura of invicibility
Regian Eersel previously held an aura of immortality, but that didn't appear to have any effect on Alexis Nicolas. 'The Immortal' Regian Eersel , after all, is still made out of flesh and blood, and when the two were in the ring, that's exactly what Nicolas realized.
Speaking to ONE Championship earlier this week, Nicolas said:
"He was like a legend to me, so I had a lot of respect for him. But when I was in the same ring, I realized he was just a man like me. Two arms, two legs. It didn't matter. So before the fight, I expected him to be better than he was. He was very good, but he was just better in my mind. So, it was perfect for me."
The newly-crowned ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion Alexis Nicolas became an instant hero in France when he defeated Eersel by unanimous decision.
His skills on full display that night, landing several significant low kicks in the first three minutes against Eersel. The damage done was obvious, as Eersel's once-fast movements slowed at a significant rate. Eventually, Nicolas caught his opponent and knocked him down in the second round.
The two will now square off in a rematch at ONE Fight Night 25, which airs live on Oct. 4 from the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand at U.S. Primetime free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in North America.
"Everything happened the way I wanted it to" - Alexis Nicolas' surge of confidence after defeating Regian Eersel with a broken ankle
Alexis Nicolas has all the bragging rights in the world after breaking Regian Eersel's eight-year winning streak with a broken ankle. The 26-year-old superstar couldn't have come up with a better ending to his world title war with Eersel.
'Barboza' ended up hurting his ankle in the very first round, but showed great heart and determination to power through for the remaining four stanzas. He said:
"So the game plan was OK, everything happened the way I wanted it to, just that I broke my ankle at the start of the first round. That was the only problem."