History was made on Friday night. Smilla Sundell became the youngest fighter to ever win a ONE Championship title, defeating Jackie Buntan in their strawweight Muay Thai contest.
Sundell is just 17 years old. The Swedish teenager picked up a $50,000 USD performance bonus for beating Buntan and says she is going to use the money to buy some cereal for her younger sister,
“I was so happy. I don’t know what to say. Thank you Chatri. I’m going to buy my sister some cereal. Lucky Charms! Because they don’t seem to have it in Sweden!”
Standing tall
She should be able to buy quite a lot of cereal with that money. The Pattaya-based star trains alongside former atomweight kickboxing and Muay Thai champion Stamp Fairtex and received some words of inspiration from her,
“She said, bring this belt back home and do your thing,” Sundell said.
Standing at 173cms she is one of the tallest fighters in the division has a burgeoning reputation in the sport with 33 professional victories. She’s often struggled to find opponents on the Thai circuit and was once forced to compete against a male fighter when her opponent dropped out at the last minute.
Did the 11-cm height difference play a part in Smilla Sundell’s World Title victory over Jackie Buntan? 🤔#ONE156 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/3PzmjrlS20
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) April 23, 2022
Valuable experience
Sundell feels that going the distance with an experienced opponent like Buntan was a valuable learning experience,
“I was happy with my performance but there is a lot to improve on. I think my jab was good. I’m an aggressive fighter. I was not really following the game plan, per se. But I was happy with my distance,” she said.
The precocious Swedish star seems to possess a surprising level of self awareness for someone of her age. Perhaps it is just modesty but afterwards she admitted that,
“Her movement (was good.) She’s fast. I think I put into action what I’ve been training for. I’m not a very smart fighter, to be honest!”
Damage done
At the end of the fight Buntan’s face bore the brunt of the damage which Sundell had done. There was no doubt who the judges would declare the winner and the teenager thinks she finished the fight stronger despite a slow start,
“I started off slow because I felt like I wasn’t warm enough. In the third round I (was) better I think.”
