ONE Championship: Filipino striker Jackie Buntan eyes history
The Filipino-American striking ace became the first-ever ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world champion in November, defeating Anissa Meksen – a legend she once watched while still in high school – in the main event of ONE Fight Night 169.
On September 5, she returns to Bangkok to headline ONE Fight Night 35 at Lumpinee Stadium, where she faces Austria's Stella Hemetsberger for the vacant strawweight Muay Thai title.
Victory would make Buntan just the third woman in ONE Championship history, after Stamp Fairtex and Janet Todd, who trained alongside Buntan for years, to claim world titles in two striking disciplines.
'It's a rare chance to go for two-sport world gold,' Buntan told the Post. 'I'm extremely excited about it – that's the only way to describe how I feel. But I'm not settled. I want more.'
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Buntan, 26, has long been considered one of the top female strikers on the planet, but her breakthrough moment came with a composed performance and historic win against Meksen.
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