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Newly minted ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion Alexis Nicolas wants to stay in his lane and seal his legacy as one of the best world champions at The Home of Martial Arts.
'Barboza' etched his name into the history books by claiming the coveted strap against longtime divisional king Regian Eersel in the main event of ONE Fight Night 21 in U.S. primetime last Friday, April 5. With the obvious choice potentially split between defending his throne or attempting to have a go at 'The Immortal's' Muay Thai crown next, Alexis Nicolas shared which among the two would entice him more.
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Speaking to Sportskeeda MMA, the 25-year-old striker said:
"I'm not a Nak Muay. I prefer kickboxing because it's more of my style. It's not what I accepted, but it's my manager who does the work. He drove my career from the start."
Watch the interview here:
Nicolas' transition into the kickboxing realm was made easy due to his extensive knowledge in savate, which shares near-similar striking weapons to kickboxing.
In Muay Thai, however, the Parisian striker knows he'd have to add a couple more tools to his game to match Eersel's complete mastery of The Art of Eight Limbs.
Alexis Nicolas admits victory over Eersel a huge morale booster
While he expects to be in for a tough test against Eersel in Muay Thai rules, Alexis Nicolas certainly has the latter's number in kickboxing.
The 25-year-old brought his A-game into the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, last week, and cruised his way to a unanimous decision win to become the new lightweight kickboxing king.
During the same post-fight interview with Sportskeeda MMA, he had this to say about his career-defining victory inside the Thai capital:
"Eersel is the best and he's the hardest opponent I can meet. The other contenders are very strong, but none of them can live up to Eersel. Eersel beat all those names, and I beat Eersel."
"That doesn't mean anything, but it makes me confident that I can stay as the king of this division."
The ONE Fight Night 21 replay is available for active Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America.
