ONE Fight Night 25 Preview: (C) Nicolas vs Eersel 2, Lineker vs Balyko lead Muay Thai-heavy billing

Val Dewar

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ONE Fight Night 25 Preview: (C) Nicolas vs Eersel 2, Lineker vs Balyko lead Muay Thai-heavy billing image

ONE Championship Fight Night 25 features nine fights and takes place in the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The full card goes live on Amazon Prime Video at 8:00pm EDT and 5:00pm PDT in the US and Canada only. It is also on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and on ONE's YouTube and Facebook pages in certain countries.

Eersel vs Nicolas

The main event is a rematch of the last lightweight kickboxing title fight, in which Regian Eersel lost his belt to Alexis Nicolas after nine straight title wins of that and his LW Muay Thai title.

In that fight the first round surprisingly went the way of the Paris-born (to Haitian and Algerian parents) Nicolas stole a competitive round from the champion, operating especially well with leg kicks.

The second round changed everything, however, as Alexis knocked down Eersel in the opening moments with a short, counter right hand.

Even though he faded from that point on and the then-champion took over in rounds three, four, & five, Alexis Nicolas got the decision because there are no draws in ONE Championship; the man with the knockdown usually wins, but one judge also did score the final round for the Parisian.

With the somewhat inconclusive result, a rematch was always on the cards and should be highly entertaining. Former champion Eersel is still a favorite in this match, sitting at a -260 favorite according to oddsmakers.

Main Card

Thai slugger Sinsamut Klinmee will look to send back Moroccan farang Youssef Assounik in a fun lightweight Muay Thai co-main event.

Former UFC bantamweight John Lineker returns one day shy of a month after an electrifying upset win in his first-ever Muay Thai fight against Asa Ten Pow in Denver at ONE 168.

His opponent, Russian Alexey Balyko, is 3-1 since joining ONE Championship, and has enough professional striking experience to make the MMA fighter in Lineker a slight (-135) underdog in this bantamweight Muay Thai bout.

The highest billed of four mixed martial arts contests on the card features two fighters with only one loss apiece, South African strawweight Bokang Matsunyane and Dagestani wrestler Mansur Malachiev.

Just like John Lineker, 22-year-old Johan Estupinan returns quickly after a win at ONE 189; he faces a man 13 years his elder in Moroccan Zakaria El Zamari in a Muay Thai Contest.

Rest Of Card

  • Hiroba Minowa vs Sanzhar Zakhirov
  • Amy Pirnie vs Shir Cohen
  • Thongpoon PK Saenchai vs Rui Botelho
  • Danial Williams vs Banma Duoji

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.