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Jackie Buntan always stayed ready for that call, and even a nasty toe injury didn't stop her momentum heading into ONE 169.
The Filipino-American standout will take on the legendary Anissa Meksen for the inaugural ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world title on the stacked ONE 169 card on Friday in US primetime at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
In an interview with Nick Atkin for Bangkok Post, Buntan said her constant work at the gym put her in the best possible shape despite suffering a toe injury at the mid-point of 2024.
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Jackie Buntan said:
"I was able to fight back in March. Obviously, I was trying to go for three fights this year, but I got injured in the summer. So that put a halt on it. But it didn’t matter. I came off of a fight, went to rehab for the broken toe, and just kept training. So I felt more than ready going into it."
Buntan was originally set to face Meksen at ONE Fight Night 23 in July but had to pull out of the match after injuring her toe in training.
That put the match on the shelf until Buntan fully recovered.
The match against Meksen is the second time Buntan bids for ONE Championship gold after she took on Smilla Sundell for the ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai world title at ONE 156 in April 2022.
ONE 169 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Watch Buntan's entire interview below:
Jackie Buntan says Anissa Meksen is looking past her ahead of ONE 169
Jackie Buntan has been fighting under Muay Thai for her entire ONE Championship run, and she believes Anissa Meksen started to overlook her ahead of their kickboxing tussle.
Meksen is one of the greatest strikers of all time and holds considerable advantage in terms of experience over Buntan.
'C18' is a multiple-time world champion having won gold under WBC Muay Thai, Glory, Enfusion, ISKA, and Kunlun.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Buntan alluded that Meksen had begun underestimating her ahead of their match for the inaugural ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world title.
Buntan said:
"Maybe she is [distracted]. I’m not distracted. I think she is obviously overlooking this fight, overlooking me as an opponent, and that’s totally fine. I’ll let her think that. I’m coming in extremely ready for this, I’m hungry for this, so yeah."
