Jackie Buntan ONE Championship: FREE FULL FIGHT: Jackie Buntan lights up tough foe in dominant beatdown in front of a mental Manila crowd

FREE FULL FIGHT: Jackie Buntan lights up tough foe in dominant beatdown in front of a mental Manila crowd

Modified Apr 25, 2025 12:26 GMT

Jackie Buntan battling Amber Kitchen in Manila, Philippines. [Photo via: ONE Championship]

Inaugural ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world champion Jackie Buntan has wholeheartedly embraced her Filipino roots. She gave her Filipino fans even more reason to cheer for her when she had her much-anticipated homecoming fight in December 2022 against Amber Kitchen.

Buntan came in relying heavily on her hand combinations and punctuated it with leg kicks. Meanwhile, 'AK 47' was focused on getting her kicking game going. Though Kitchen had some decent success with her strategy, Buntan's boxing had become a massive hurdle, especially in the second round.

The Filipino-American blitzed Kitchen early in the final round for a knockdown, which gave Buntan the separation she needed from the 26-year-old on the scorecards to win via unanimous decision.

Watch the entire fight below, which ONE posted on YouTube:

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This was a much-needed return to form for the Boxing Works product as she was coming off a heartbreaker against Smilla Sundell in April that year over the inaugural ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai world championship.

Buntan currently holds a four-fight winning streak, which she capped off with a bell-to-bell beatdown of French-Algerian striking legend Anissa Meksen last November to win the inaugural 125-pound women's kickboxing crown.

Jackie Buntan heaps praise on longtime coach Bryan Popejoy

Jackie Buntan always knows when to give credit where it is due, and she made sure that Boxing Works head coach Bryan Popejoy received his flowers.

In a sit-down interview with The Casuals, Buntan mentioned:

"I think we have a traditional Thai style, but it's mixed in with a lot of different looks and influences from kickboxing, from boxing, whatever Bryan comes up with. Really, I think the foundation is there of Muay Thai, but the nice thing is, he's so open to new ideas and new practices where it's not like some coach, like, 'That's not Muay Thai. We're not gonna do it."

Watch the entire interview here:

About the author

Karl has been an MMA writer at Sportskeeda since 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Arts major in history, which helps him pay attention to the finer details while writing, and also has first-hand experience in boxing. He has a total experience of 5 years, and has worked for the International Business Times.

Karl turned into an MMA fan back in 2011 after watching Tito Ortiz defeat Ryan Bader via first-round submission at UFC 132. He has interviewed ONE world champions like Eduard Folayang, Joshua Pacio, Stamp Fairtex, and Tawanchai in his career so far.

On the non-MMA side of things, he interviewed WWE superstar Matt Riddle in 2021 and his question about Roman Reigns elicited an interesting answer which was widely covered by outlets like Sportskeeda and Cultaholic Wrestling's YouTube channel. He has also interviewed NBA stars Dwight Howard, Nick Young, Andre Roberson, Shabazz Muhammad, Jason Williams and Brian Scalabrine plus Filipino women's volleyball star Alyssa Valdez.

Karl ensures to double-check facts before using them in articles, and reads up on potential topics for pieces a day before. In his off time, he likes to play video games, and keep up with basketball and pro wrestling.

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Edited by Krishna Venki