Jackie Buntan will be looking to get her career back on track at ONE on Prime Video 5 this weekend. The American, who has Filipino heritage, won her first three fights for the promotion and looked to be on a fast track to the strawweight title.
But she came up short against Smilla Sundell at ONE 156 seeing her title dreams dashed by the Swedish teenager. It was a major setback but one which Buntan says has only made her more motivated,
“(It) is a huge motivation and it’s lit a huge fire in me, it really has. Losses suck. It’s never a great feeling. But in general, in my whole life, I’m just not the type of person to stay down. I just can’t let myself do that.”
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Winning ways
Her teammate Janet Todd holds the atomweight Muay Thai and kickboxing titles, albeit only an interim version of the former. She will be defending that belt this Saturday too and Buntan is desperate to work her way back into title contention,
“Obviously, I want to get back on the winning streak. I want to get back in that mix of competing for the title again.”
This Saturday morning in Manila she takes on Amber Kitchen. The two faced each other once before in an amateur fight in 2017 with the English fighter winning by split decision.
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Three out of four
Since then Buntan has become a star with ONE Championship winning three fights out of four and challenging for the title. By contrast the English fighter is winless in her two outings for the promotion.
But Buntan id definitely not overlooking Kitchen even id she has identified a weakness she can potentially exploit,
“I don’t take Amber lightly. I think she’s all around a good fighter. She’s a strong fighter physically. I felt that first hand when we first fought. She can be explosive as well. I would say her weakness is that she dwindles down at some point in the middle of the fight.”
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Doing damage
Buntan’s four ONE Championship fights have all been the distance. Kitchen has also gone to a decision every time she has stepped into the circle meaning that the judges might well have a job to do this weekend.
But Buntan did knock Nat Wondergirl down on her ONE Championship debut, breaking the Thai fighters jaw. She wants to do something similar to Kitchen and is determined to do ‘damage’ in Manila on Saturday,
“I should be mean and hurt her. It’s one thing to win on points, but I really want to win by damage. I really want to hurt her because I want to prove a point.”
