‘The Fighter In Me Comes Out’ – How Late-Night Gaming Fuels Regian Eersel’s Competitive Fire
Reigning ONE Lightweight Muay Thai World Champion Regian “The Immortal” Eersel has forged one of the most dominant runs in modern striking history, amassing nearly 70 professional victories across two disciplines.
Renowned for his icy composure, surgical precision, and uncanny ability to make split-second decisions under immense pressure, the Surinamese-Dutch superstar has long set the gold standard in ONE Championship’s lightweight ranks.
While those lethal qualities are most visible under the blinding stadium lights, they are meticulously built long before he ever makes his walk to the ring.
Now, as he meticulously prepares to face Rungrawee “Legatron” Sitsongpeenong for the ONE Lightweight Kickboxing World Title at ONE Fight Night 42 on Prime Video inside Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Stadium on Friday, April 10, in U.S. primetime, Eersel points to an unexpected, digital element of his daily routine that consistently sharpens his elite edge.
How The PlayStation 5 Fits Into Regian Eersel’s Grueling Fight Camp
Eersel’s life outside the ropes is strictly defined by unyielding structure and profound responsibility.
As a devoted father of two young daughters and a reigning World Champion deep into yet another grueling fight camp, his precious time is carefully managed. With his wife working as a flight attendant, “The Immortal” often takes on the central role at home while balancing the crushing physical demands of training twice a day. Recovery, family duties, and world-class preparation constantly compete for his undivided attention.
Within that exhausting daily grind, gaming has evolved into a highly controlled and intentional habit. Rather than serving as a mindless distraction, his console creates a vital space for a psychological reset between physically devastating sessions where his focus never truly switches off.
The 10-time ONE World Champion said:
“I have a PlayStation 5. I play games on the PS5, like shooting games, like Battlefield and Call of Duty. Most of the time for entertainment, I play games, watch action movies, go out and eat.”
Training out of his long-time base at Sityodtong Amsterdam, Eersel’s elite preparation demands absolute consistency and obsessive attention to detail. Every single session is painstakingly built around sharpening his timing, accuracy, and endurance. Those qualities have defined his unprecedented success across both Muay Thai and kickboxing.
However, outside the gym walls, maintaining that terrifying level of focus requires an entirely different kind of delicate balance. Sandwiched between active recovery and family responsibilities, he relies on small, structured routines to reset mentally without losing sharpness. Gaming offers that exact sanctuary, allowing him to momentarily switch off his body while actively engaging the same predator instincts that define his fighting style.
The 32-year-old said:
“From those games, it keeps you sharp, your reaction time. But at the same time, it’s also my relaxation. Just think about nothing but shooting people. Sounds crazy, but it works that way.
“Sometimes after training, especially after my morning training, I come home, put my clothes in the washing machine, go downstairs, sit on the couch, and maybe go for half an hour or one hour gaming, just to relax, clear my mind, and think about nothing.”
From Late-Night Gaming To The Unbreakable Discipline Of A ONE World Champion
Like many elite competitors, Eersel’s relationship with the digital battlefield has drastically evolved over time.
Earlier in his legendary career, when he was still forging himself as a professional fighter, the exact same competitive fire that fuels his massive success today sometimes worked directly against him. Marathon gaming sessions stretched late into the night, dangerously clashing with his strict recovery and training demands.
But sustained growth at the pinnacle of combat sports requires ironclad discipline, not just inside the gym, but across every aspect of life. As his heavy responsibilities expanded, both as an elite fighter and as a dedicated father, Eersel made the necessary adjustments. What once existed as an uncontrolled habit transformed into something highly structured and deeply purposeful.
Today, juggling twice-daily training sessions and a busy household, he perfectly understands when to switch off and when to rest his body.
Eersel explained:
“In the beginning, when I first had my PlayStation, I started with PlayStation 3 when I bought my own PlayStation. It was worse, man. I was playing deep into the night, messing up my sleep schedule and stuff. But now I’m just doing it for fun.
“I train twice a day now, so sometimes I still do it, but I prefer to rest my mind and lay down.”
How Call of Duty Keeps Eersel Sharp
Even in these quiet moments of physical rest, Eersel’s mindset remains entirely unchanged.
At its core, what draws him to gaming on his PS5 is the same survival instinct that carried him to the pinnacle of the striking world. The urgent need to react, the puzzle of solving complex problems, and the thrill of executing under massive pressure remain identical. In that specific sense, the psychological connection between gaming and professional fighting is startlingly direct.
In both high-stakes environments, ultimate success comes down to unbreakable focus, split-second timing, and flawless decision-making.
He said:
“It’s almost like fighting. You shoot somebody, you kill somebody, you win. It’s the same as fighting. You put your body in, you feel a little bit of pain, but when you win, you are happy. Same thing in gaming. You have to focus. If it’s successful and you kill somebody, you feel the same happiness.”
In a combat sport defined by physical chaos, gaming provides him with a controlled space to apply those same strategic principles without the devastating physical toll. The twitch reactions are very real. The internal pressure is real. Only the physical consequences are different.
But even in a virtual lobby, his edge never fades.
The 32-year-old offered:
“Sometimes I get a little irritated if I keep getting killed by the same player. Then the fighter in me comes out, like, I have to search for this player and kill him also, to take my revenge.”
It is that exact, unyielding mindset that defines his historic World Championship reign.
The outright refusal to accept setbacks, the urgency to respond, and the constant, burning drive to improve have helped him become one of the most accomplished and feared strikers in ONE history.
Even after suffering a shockingly rare loss to Alexis “Barboza” Nicolas in 2024, Eersel responded in dominant fashion to reclaim his rightful position at the top of the mountain.
And in his own honest words, those digital habits have actively played a role in shaping the unstoppable force he is today.
“The Immortal” concluded:
“I think it played a part to become one of the best fighters in the world. Because these aspects, being competitive, searching for a way to win, focusing, thinking under high pressure, really help.”
