“Double champ sounds nice” - Filipino-American star Jackie Buntan hints at dual-title hunt this 2025 in ONE Championship

ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world champion Jackie Buntan hinted that 2025 could be the most important year of her career. The Filipino-American superstar posted on Instagram that she could mount another challenge for the now-vacant ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai world title.

Buntan is undoubtedly one of the best fighters of this generation, and achieving champ-champ status would certainly push her starpower to another level. She took to Instagram and wrote:

""Double Champ sounds nice this year 🙂‍↕️"

The 27-year-old is just at the start of her prime and dual-sport supremacy is highly plausible for the California native.

Buntan holds a stellar 7-1 record in ONE Championship, with her lone loss coming at the hands of Smilla Sundell for the inaugural ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai world title in April 2022.

Since that defeat, Buntan has racked up four straight wins against Amber Kitchen, Diandra Martin, Martine Michieletto and the legendary Anissa Meksen.

Her unanimous decision victory over Meksen, a fighter often considered one of the greatest kickboxers of all time, gave Buntan the inaugural ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world title at ONE 169 in November 2024.

Although it's still unclear where or when Buntan will challenge for another piece of gold, it's almost certain that she will bring absolute fireworks against whoever ONE Championship puts in front of her.

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Jackie Buntan recalls why she decided to skip school and head into a full-time career in combat sports

Jackie Buntan could've taken the conventional route of going through college and landing a nice corporate job, but her calling was far from sitting on a cushioned chair inside an office building.

In an interview with The Casuals podcast, Buntan recalled how she rushed head-on into a career in martial arts and ditched school altogether.

Buntan said:

"I actually did. I did almost two years at community college, Long Beach City College. I finished that, and then pretty much opted out after. Like, right before trying to figure out what to major in, where to transfer, I kind of was just like, I don't even want to do this. I wanted to kind of put all my eggs into fighting and see where that takes [me]."