Regian Eersel

Regian Eersel profile

Regian Eersel holds the ONE lightweight Muay Thai world title and the ONE lightweight kickboxing world title at the same time, and he is the first athlete in the promotion's history to defend belts in two different sports.

From Paramaribo to Sityodtong Amsterdam

Eersel was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, on 16 December 1992, and his family moved to Amsterdam when he was four. He started in taekwondo at eight, for self-defence and to burn off energy, then turned professional in kickboxing and has trained at Sityodtong Amsterdam under Paul and Vincent Pengel since 2008.

At 189 cm with a reach of roughly 196 cm, he is usually the tallest man in the lightweight division. That frame is the whole game plan: he keeps opponents at the end of his kicks, then turns the fight with flying knees and straight punches as they close. His lifetime kickboxing record stands at 64 wins and 5 losses, with 27 knockouts.

Inaugural champion, and five defences

He debuted in ONE in April 2018 with a decision over Brad Riddell, knocked out Anthony Njokuani in early 2019, and then beat Dutch veteran Nieky Holzken on 17 May 2019 to become the first ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion.

What followed was a reign almost nobody touched: five straight defences, including a rematch with Holzken in October 2019, Mustapha Haida and Islam Murtazaev in 2021, and Arian Sadikovic in April 2022.

A second belt, and the Sinsamut rivalry

On 22 October 2022 Eersel moved across to Muay Thai rules and beat Sinsamut Klinmee by split decision over five rounds for the inaugural ONE lightweight Muay Thai world title, making him the promotion's first two-sport champion in one division. Five months later he stopped Sinsamut in the fourth round of the rematch at ONE Friday Fights 9.

In June 2023 he defended the Muay Thai belt by knocking out Dmitry Menshikov in 46 seconds, the shortest fight of his ONE career.

The Alexis Nicolas trilogy, and a belt taken away

His only ONE defeat came on 6 April 2024, when France's Alexis Nicolas out-pointed him over five rounds and ended a five-year kickboxing reign. Eersel won the belt back by decision in the October rematch.

He beat Nicolas a third time on 5 April 2025, but was stripped of the kickboxing title afterwards for failing the hydration test before the bout, leaving the belt vacant despite the win on the night. The Muay Thai title stayed with him, and he defended it in August 2025 by knocking out George Jarvis in the first round.

Two belts again, and what comes next

On 10 April 2026 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Eersel beat Thailand's Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong by unanimous decision over five rounds to reclaim the vacant kickboxing title and become a two-sport champion again. He had called that belt his first baby in ONE, the title he won back in 2019.

His ONE record now reads 14-1 in 15 bouts with four knockouts, and an average fight time of almost 16 minutes because nearly every one of them is a five-round title fight. In February 2026 bantamweight Muay Thai champion Nabil Anane said he wants the lightweight belt; Eersel's answer was that Anane has the potential, but not while he is still champion.

Record

Scope: ONE Championship · last verified 22 September 2026