"We both have the same mentality" - Jonathan Di Bella sees similarities with lightweight great Regian Eersel

Jonathan Di Bella's respect for reigning ONE lightweight Muay Thai world champion Regian Eersel has deepened through their training sessions in New York.

The Canadian-Italian striking maestro discovered shared values that extend beyond technical skills into their approach, one that goes beyond Eersel's character that television broadcasts and fight footage don’t capture.

During his interview with ONE Championship, the ONE interim strawweight kickboxing world champion reflected on the character traits he's discovered through their training relationship while expressing increased admiration for the champion's approach.

"I respect Eersel even more now because I see him working not just with me, but I see him working with everybody else, just like I do. Like, we both have the same mentality," Jonathan Di Bella told ONE Championship.

Eersel was last in action inside the Circle at ONE Fight Night 34, where he authored a first-round knockout of George Jarvis this past August.

The 29-year-old Canadian-Italian sensation, meanwhile, returns in an electric world title rematch against two-sport world champion Prajanchai PK Saenchai.

Their ONE strawweight kickboxing world title unification tiff will headline ONE Fight Night 36 on Friday, October 3, in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Jonathan Di Bella describes training with Eersel as 'perfect'

In the same interview with the promotion, the Team Di Bella Kickboxing star recalled how their training session came to fruition, just days before Eersel destroyed Jarvis inside the Thai capital city.

Per Jonathan Di Bella, the couple of days he spent honing his craft alongside the Dutch-Surinamese sporting hero were one for the books.

"He texted me, 'Hey, when are you going to be there? Are you going to be in New York during this period?' I'm like, 'Yeah, for sure.'"

"He knew I was always in New York, so I'm like, 'Yeah, we're gonna link up, for sure.' And he was actually [going to train] at my dad's friend's gym, so we set up a training session, and it was perfect," he added.