“I was scared to do it” - Muay Thai world champ Smilla Sundell recalls her fear of looking foolish on her first days at the gym

Not everyone starts the best in anything, even striking phenom Smilla Sundell.

The reigning ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world champion recalled the first days of her martial arts journey and how she would even be petrified just looking at the heavy bags.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Sundell said she was too afraid to make any mistakes inside the gym that she would get nervous walking into drills.

She said:

“I really didn’t want to make mistakes, and kicking pads made me look like an idiot, so I was scared to do it and do anything wrong with people looking at me.”

That moment of reluctance during her younger years eventually pushed Sundell into global supremacy when she took ONE Championship by storm.

Sundell made her ONE Championship debut in February 2022 and quickly made a name for herself when she knocked out Aussie striker Diandra Martin in the third round of their match at ONE: Full Circle.

In just her second fight in the promotion, Sundell took a dominant unanimous decision win over Filipino-American star Jackie Buntan to capture the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world title at ONE 156 in April 2022.

Sundell took a brief stop at kickboxing, where she dominated Serbia’s Milana Bjelogrlic at ONE Friday Fights 18.

After a brief detour, Sundell defended the gold for the first time when she faced ONE atomweight Muay Thai world champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues at ONE Fight Night 14.

It was arguably Smilla Sundell’s biggest match of her career, but the atmosphere didn’t affect her at all. Sundell weathered Rodrigues’ early storm and took control of the match earning a third-round stoppage win.

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Smilla Sundell interested in Jackie Buntan rematch

There’s no official word yet of when Smilla Sundell will grace the circle next, but she feels another meeting with a familiar foe could happen.

Following her victory against Rodrigues this September, Sundell admitted that she’s interested in facing off against Buntan once again.

Sundell said she could face Buntan again, whether it’s under Muay Thai or kickboxing. She stated during during her post-fight press conference:

“I don’t care who I fight, I’m just happy if someone signs a contract with me. I’ve signed many contracts coming up to this fight and everyone pulled out for some reason, but anyone that wants to. But I know that Jackie [Buntan] wants to fight for the kickboxing belt, and I’m interested in that one too.”