Last weekend, the fight world was introduced to a new superstar – French-Algerian Alexis Nicolas.
At ONE Fight Night 21, he was able to do what for everyone before him had been impossible – defeat Regian Eersel, and in doing so capture the ONE Lightweight Kickboxing world title – all in just two ONE Championship fights.
Going into the fight, Eersel had won 22 consecutive fights and owned a clean 10-0 slate in ONE. It was a record that had made him a two-sport world champion (he is still the lightweight Muay Thai world champion), having seen off the challenge of some of the biggest names in both divisions.
For Nicolas, it was a daunting task but he was bringing an impressive record of his own. The 25-year-old had dominated the European kickboxing scene and remained unbeaten in 23 bouts.
At the famed Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Nicolas took the champion the distance – outlasting him with a variety of strikes and ultimately a will to keep pushing the pace deep into the fight.
“I was ready for five rounds of cardio, unlimited cardio, you know, because I worked hard every day. So I saw in his face, he wasn’t ready and he knew it would be a hard fight,” said Nicolas.
Eersel had started the fight quickly and Nicolas admits he was hurt in the opener, but had enough to regain his composure and then force pressure onto the champion.
“It was very hard, it was a very hard fight. He was very strong and I know he was very painful in the first round. I was painful too when I kicked his knee. We have two big champions and the best won. And it was me.”
Going into the fight calf kicks made up a sizeable portion of his game plan and they paid dividends on the night, Nicolas was quick to pay tribute to his team for this.
“That was the game plan, the calf kick was the strategy and I saw he wasn’t ready for this,” he said. “I’m very proud. I worked hard. That was the game plan with my gym, Mahmoudi Gym. So thank you, thank you. It was a crazy fight.”
His fans across Europe and North Africa also got a special mention from the new champion.
“My friends, my fans, my family, thank you for trusting me,” said Nicolas. “You know, now I see this fight is very good for me because you discovered me and you made the real Alexis. You understand why I’m like that, you understand why I work so hard. Why my dream is to be the best and now the next adventure for me would be crazy.”
