ONE Championship: Alexis Nicolas relishes Regian Eersel rematch at Fight Night 25
‘I killed him one time but he’s coming back,’ says Nicolas, who believes onus is on him to be France’s ‘ambassador of kickboxing’
Now that he is the ONE Championship lightweight kickboxing champion, Alexis Nicolas feels he is finally starting to get the credit he deserves in his native France.
Nicolas, who rematches Regian Eersel at ONE Fight Night 25 this weekend, said it was down to him to fly the flag for kickboxing in France after Cedric Doumbe, previously the Glory welterweight champion, switched codes a couple of years ago.
“The French are proud of me because we had Cedric Doumbe but now he is an MMA fighter, so I am the ambassador of kickboxing.”
Nicolas knows that his status in the sport was elevated when he beat Eersel at ONE Fight Night 21 earlier this year. The Dutchman had won all of his previous 10 fights for the promotion and a rematch was inevitable.
“I won the first fight but he’s a legend so we had to have a rematch,” Nicolas said. “His nickname is ‘The Immortal’ and I killed him one time but he’s coming back.”
Nicolas thinks Eersel could be angry about losing his belt and his undefeated ONE Championship record. He expects more intensity from the former champion on Saturday.
