“This is for the history books” - Regian Eersel fighting to become first Muay Thai world champ from Suriname

Regian Eersel already put Suriname’s flag atop the martial arts world when he became the first ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion, and he plans to add more prestige to his native land when makes his way inside the circle.

The Surinamese star will face Thailand’s Sinsamut Klinmee for the inaugural ONE lightweight Muay Thai world championship at ONE on Prime Video 3 this Friday at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.

Eersel said in an interview with ONE Championship that becoming a two-sport world champion in the promotion will be a huge honor not just for him but for Suriname and its people.

Although he now resides in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Eersel is still deeply rooted in his native country:

“I feel like I am writing history if I also win the Muay Thai World Title. It will be so important for my country Suriname, for the people, and for my team. This is history-making, and if I am the first one to make this happen, then this is for the history books.”

Regian Eersel is considered one of the greatest strikers of his generation, holding an incredible 58-4 professional record. He’s also 7-0 in ONE Championship with five of those victories happening in world title matches.

‘The Immortal’ captured the ONE lightweight kickboxing world title when he beat Nieky Holzken at ONE: Enter the Dragon in May 2019. He then defended his belt against Holzken, Mustapha Haida, Islam Murtazaev, and Arian Sadikovic.

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Regian Eersel talks about his stonewall mentality

Regian Eersel is called ‘The Immortal’ for one reason or another, but one of those is his tremendous track record inside the cage.

The 6ft2 striker’s nickname is based on the Persian Immortals, the elite military of the Achaemenid Empire, that was famously inserted into pop culture through the movie franchise labelled "300".

During ONE on Prime Video 3’s virtual media day, Eersel talked about how he’s maintained such an amazing run and how it boils down to how he approaches every match he’s going to be in.

“How you can prepare for it, I really don’t know because I never got KO’d. When you’re going to fight, you also think about losing a fight. That’s normal. There are both sides to winning and losing. But you have to make sure that you don’t think too much about losing. You have to think about winning, that’s why you fight. You fight to win, that’s the goal."