"I hope she will get the title fight next" - Regian Eersel believes Smilla Sundell deserves a shot to reclaim her throne

Reigning ONE lightweight Muay Thai world champion Regian Eersel knows exactly what it feels to lose a ONE world championship. On April 5, Eersel was defeated for the first time in eight years by Alexis Nicolas, dropping his lightweight kickboxing world title via unanimous decision.

'The Immortal' was one of many onlookers who were surprised that Muay Thai phenom Smilla Sundell was stripped of her strawweight Muay Thai world title on the scales ahead of her defense against Natalia Diachkova at ONE Fight Night 22.

Despite their respective setbacks, Regian Eersel is hopeful that 'The Hurricane' will reclaim it, as he told Sportskeeda MMA in an exclusive interview:

"In the beginnings, I had trouble too with the hydration test. Because weight I think, for me, is the easiest part. But hydration was always tough. But yeah, I was feeling bad for Smilla. Thankfully she won the fight. I hope she will get the title fight next."

In Sundell's case, she staked her claim to challenging for the world title once again by producing a come-from-behind TKO win against 'Karelian Lynx'.

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Regian Eersel eyeing to fight on one of ONE Championship's two United States cards

ONE Championship will make its long-awaited return to the United States later this year. ONE 168 and ONE 169 will be held on September 6 and November 8 in Denver and Atlanta, respectively.

From where Eersel is standing, he would love nothing more than to compete on either card, which he said in an interview with Sportskeeda MMA:

"I'd like to fight in America. You know, for me, and for the fans, America is my favorite country, you know. I did enquire about the card in Denver, but if it's already full, I hope they put me on the other show."

Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are currently available via Ticketmaster.