Gold will be up for grabs at the top of the card in ONE Championship’s U.S. primetime event next month. Set for Friday, April 5, ONE Fight Night 21 will feature two-sport king Regian “The Immortal” Eersel defending his ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Title against Alexis “Barboza” Nicolas, and Tye Ruotolo putting his ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Championship against Izaak Michell in the main and co-main event, respectively.
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The event will be held inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, and broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for Amazon subscribers across North America.
Regian Eersel’s immortal reign in ONE ChampionshipADVERTISEMENT
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‘The Immortal’ rose up through the ranks quickly upon his arrival in ONE Championship in 2019, collecting back-to-back wins before claiming the inaugural lightweight kickboxing strap at the expense of striking legend Nieky Holzken at ONE: ENTER THE DRAGON in May 2019.
After successfully defending it three times in a row against some of the world’s best strikers, Eersel moved over to Muay Thai, where he claimed the inaugural lightweight Muay Thai gold against Sinsamut Klimee at ONE on Prime Video 3 in October 2022 to become a two-sport titleholder.
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He’ll return to kickboxing after two successful defenses of his Muay Thai throne on April 5 and will be looking to pick up where he left off. Standing in his way this time around will be promotional newcomer Nicolas, who will be eager to prove that he belongs among the planet’s elite strikers straight out of the gates.
The ISKA Kickboxing World Champion boasts a flawless 23-0 professional record and is fighting out of Mahmoudi Gym, which is France’s strongest stable of strikers, so he certainly has the chops to bring the fight to the Dutch-Surinamese World Champion.
Ruotolo vs. Michell for welterweight supremacyADVERTISEMENT
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In the co-main event, Ruotolo will defend his welterweight submission grappling belt for the first time as he aims to extend his win streak in ONE to a pristine 6-0. The American grappling prodigy has taken the global stage by storm since joining the promotion in 2022. He found success against some of the best ground specialists on the roster, including Reinier de Ridder, Garry Tonon, and Marat Gafurov, before winning the inaugural divisional crown against Magomed Abdulkadirov at ONE Fight Night 16 last November.
Opposite him will be Australian phenom Michell, who has won the Australian and the Asia and Oceania ADCC Trials, took the award for best match at the prestigious ADCC World Championship tournament in 2022, and claimed the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship as a brown belt.
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He’ll be looking to put an end to Ruotolo’s impressive streak in his ONE Championship debut, so fans can expect a barnburner when their World Title clash gets underway. More fights for ONE Fight Night 21 are set to be announced in the coming days.
Source : EssentiallySports