Relive one of the most dominant and one-sided beatdowns of Regian Eersel’s kickboxing career before he makes his return to the ring on June 9 to defend his title as the ONE lightweight kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion.
At the illustrious Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, Eersel will defend his Muay Thai belt against the first-time competitor Dmitry Menshikov as part of ONE Fight Night 11: Eersel vs. Menshikov, which will be shown live on Prime Video.
On February 26, 2021, Eersel defended his ONE lightweight kickboxing world title against Moroccan-Italian kickboxer Mustapha Haida. This was Eersel’s second attempt at defending his world title.
At first, Eersel was supposed to square off against a different adversary on that historic night. The announcement of the event’s cancellation sent shockwaves through the kickboxing community, but Haida was already prepared to step in as a replacement and was more than willing to do so.
However, he was taken aback when Eersel came out swinging as hard as he did and kept it up for the entire 25 minutes.
Those who are familiar with Eersel’s fighting style are aware that he is a pressure fighter; to put it another way, he enjoys goading his adversaries into engaging in a battle with him.
He pursues his target with dogged determination and produces some of the finest shots of his career within that range. Once again relying on this tactic, he barraged Haida with flying knee assaults, powerful hooks, and straight punches from the inside of the ring.
To his credit, Haida initially challenged those strikes, but as the fight progressed, his cardio began to deteriorate, and he was eventually forced to find the clinch. Even though he was knocked down more than once, Haida held his ground and provided viewers with a fight that was incredibly watching and engaging from the very beginning to the very end.
At the conclusion of the fifth round, the winner of the match was a resounding foregone conclusion. In order to extend his lengthy and unchallenged reign in the ONE Championship, Regian Eersel successfully defended his title and was awarded a majority verdict to keep his belt.
