"He's not a real fighter" - Regian Eersel highly critical of new champ Alexis Nicolas' fighting style

As far as Regian Eersel is concerned, a true world champion fights tooth and nail as long as there's still time on the clock. 'The Immortal' was certainly just that throughout his remarkable 22-fight winning streak, including 10 straight wins in the world's largest martial arts organization.

That said, Eersel bitterly regrets seeing that dominant run end at the hands of new lightweight kickboxing kingpin Alexis Nicolas last April.

Aside from losing his two-sport champ status, the lightweight Muay Thai world champion rues falling short in the matter that he did.

While 'Barboza' scored a match-defining knockdown in round 2 over Eersel, the latter feels the Frenchman took his foot off the gas for the remainder of the fight, knowing he was up on the scorecards.

This tactic doesn't fly with the Sityodtong Amsterdam product, who called out Nicolas in an interview with ONE:

"I’m more disappointed that I lost to a guy like Alexis. He’s now the World Champion, but he’s not a fighter in his heart."

Eersel added:

“In my way of thinking, he did good. He was smart. He does have my respect by way of intelligence because his strategy was good. But I saw that he’s not a real fighter."

Regian Eersel says losing is part of the game

While there is no such thing as a perfect fighter, Regian Eersel was certainly the closest to that standard at one point.

Losing his eight-year unbeaten streak was indeed a heavy burden for the 31-year-old striker, who's been used to getting his hand raised time and time again.

But being the true warrior that he is, Eersel simply licked his wounds and polished his sword for the battle up ahead.

"Everybody loses in life and this is what it is. You have to accept it and go on, you know, that's life," he told ONE.

It's only fair for the dominant king to get an outright shot at the crown he lost at ONE Fight Night 25: Nicolas vs. Eersel II on Prime Video inside the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

This action-packed event will air live in US Primetime free of charge on Oct. 4 for Prime Video subscribers in North America.