Two Muay Thai Heroines To Battle For Chance To Make History At ONE 156

History will be made this Friday, April 22 as ONE Championship is set to crown its first Muay Thai world champion in the women’s strawweight division.

Jackie Buntan—the promotion’s breakout Muay Thai athlete of 2021—is slated to duke it out against Swedish teenage sensation Smilla Sundell in a scheduled five-round title tilt in the co-headliner of ONE 156, which takes place at the 12,000-seater Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The Filipina-American has been on a tear since she first arrived in the Singapore-based outfit in 2021, putting the young 56.7-kilogram weight class on notice.

Buntan turned heads in her maiden appearance, dominating the highly-touted Wondergirl Fairtex over the course of three rounds to score a clear-cut unanimous decision win.

She followed it up with an enthralling performance versus Ekaterina Vandaryeva to pick up a nail-biting majority decision and then capped off her banner year with a three-round drubbing of Daniela Lopez.

The 24-year-old representative of Boxing Works will now get a chance to write her name in the record books as the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai titleholder.

“It was a flood of emotions [when I got the call about the world title fight]. Not just the goal of actually being able to have the opportunity to compete for it. But it just puts everything in perspective,” Buntan shared.

“I was super active all of last year, and I was able to put things into realization, like, ‘Wow, within just one year, I was able to do it. I’m the one who made this opportunity for myself.’ So it just put a lot of things in perspective, and I had a lot of gratitude when I was offered that bout.”

Like Buntan, Sundell left a lasting impression in her promotional debut this past February as she stopped Australian vixen Diandra Martin in the third round.

Though she only has one bout under the ONE Championship banner to her credit, Sundell believes that she’s ready for the task at hand.

“Winning my first fight on the global stage. It was a very good experience. I was very happy, and I couldn’t wait to fight again,” the Swede stated.

“Jackie, don’t underestimate me. I want this belt, and I will get it.”

A triumph at the expense of Buntan will enshrine her as the youngest world champion in ONE Championship history, and Sundell refuses to let that feat slip through the cracks.

“I hate losing. I will become aggressive, I will finish her, and I will become a world champion,” Sundell declared.

Meanwhile, Buntan feels that she is “levels ahead” of Sundell and plans to demonstrate it on fight night.

“I’ll say she’s good enough to be fighting in ONE Championship, but I really believe I’m levels ahead of her in technicality, intelligence, speed, power, and all that. I’m really confident she hasn’t dealt with anyone like me before,” Buntan stressed.

“I think I’m going to run her into heavy and very damaging shots. Find the holes in that reckless, careless style of hers, coming in aggressively. I really do believe I’m able to find the holes and run her into things that’ll hurt her, and hopefully put the brakes on her.”

Fans in the United States will be able to watch ONE 156 on Friday, April 22 through watch.onefc.com at 5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT.