"You cannot go too long with the negative energy" - Regian Eersel admits struggle coming to terms with his world title loss
It is tough for any world-class martial artist to recover from a big setback and though this was the case for Regian Eersel, he's able to keep moving forward.
'The Immortal' has been on a totally dominant winning streak under the ONE Championship banner.
However, at ONE Fight Night 21, his undefeated streak finally came to an end when he faced Alexis Nicolas.
The French striker was able to narrowly take the fight on the scorecards, becoming the new ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion in the process.
Before they run it back at ONE Fight Night 25 on Oct. 4, Eersel spoke in a recent interview with ONE Championship about bouncing back.
The former lightweight kickboxing king and reigning ONE lightweight Muay Thai world champion said that he was able to push through this difficult time and leave any negativity behind in order to continue moving forward:
"We lost [for the first time] in eight years, you know. But you know, you have to accept it. You know, you cannot go too long with the negative energy, you know, and yeah, I'm not that kind of person to go through the negative energy for a long time, you know."
Regian Eersel wants his top spot back
Considering the win streak and title reign that Regian Eersel had put together, there was always going to be a rematch after what happened at ONE Fight Night 21.
Even Alexis Nicolas likely knew that if he got his hand raised, he would then need to beat 'The Immortal' in back-to-back fights before moving on to the next stage of his career.
An elite-level competitor like Eersel is always going to come back stronger and on his return to Lumpinee Stadium, he wants the top spot back.
Correcting a few mistakes that led to the loss is on his mind, as is taking back the lightweight kickboxing gold.
ONE Fight Night 25 will air live in US primetime free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in North America.