Filipino-American star Jackie Buntan recalls her first two trips to her motherland Philippines: “It was a dream come true”

American fighter Jackie Buntan had the opportunity last year to touch base with her Filipino roots. It was an enriching experience that she described as a fulfillment of a longtime dream of her's.

The 26-year-old Boxing Works standout was in the Philippines twice in 2022, with the second one in December seeing her compete and win in front of the Filipino crowd at ONE on Prime Video 5.

Speaking to Alex Wendling in an interview, Filipino-American Jackie Buntan recalled her experience visiting Manila and relayed how she would love to do it again, hopefully with family in tow to make it more special.

She said:

“100 percent honored, yeah. You know, I was able to, fortunate enough, to go to the Philippines twice last year. The second time I was able to fight there, in December so that was like a dream come true, honestly. It would have been better if I had my family with me next time, hopefully.”

Watch the interview below:

In her fight last December, Jackie Buntan defeated Amber Kitchen of the United Kingdom by unanimous decision. She then followed it up with an impressive first-round technical knockout victory over Australia's Diandra Martin in May at ONE’s first-ever live on-ground event in the United States.

She was initially penciled in to take on ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Smilla Sundell in a rematch back in September at ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video but had to withdraw over personal reasons. Reigning ONE atomweight kickboxing world champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues replaced her.

Jackie Buntan made her ONE Championship debut in February 2021 and has won five of her six fights to date. Her lone defeat came in April last year at the hands of Sundell for the inaugural ONE strawweight Muay Thai world title. She lost by unanimous decision.