“I'm just so blessed to be a part of that” - Jackie Buntan proud to follow Filipino world championship tradition in combat sports

Newly crowned ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world champion Jackie Buntan has now joined a legendary list of Filipino combat sports world champions, and she could not be more proud.

This list includes names like former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Eduard Folayang, Bruce Lee protege Dan Inosanto, and of course, none other than legendary eight-division boxing world champion Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao.

Two weeks ago, Buntan delivered an impressive five-round unanimous decision victory over French-Algerian kickboxing icon 'C18' Anissa Meksen at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug to capture the inaugural strawweight kickboxing gold.

Speaking to Combat Sports Today in a recent interview, Buntan shared her thoughts on joining the Filipino world championship tradition.

The 27-year-old Boxing Works representative said:

"I'm just so blessed to be a part of that. I started this journey for myself, and you really don't realize it along the way, but it touches a lot of people, and I think that's a really special feeling."

Jackie Buntan wants to reign as queen at strawweight for as long as possible: "At 125, I feel strong"

New strawweight kickboxing queen Jackie Buntan has no plans of leaving the strawweight division anytime soon. The 27-year-old is looking to reign over the weight class for as long as possible.

She told Combat Sports Today:

"I could comfortably make strawweight. The last fight in March was at catchweight. That was because I had come off of a hiatus last year. I had to pull out of a fight due to some other reasons."

Buntan added:

"I'm a natural strawweight. At 125, I feel strong. I feel healthy at that. So making that [weight] is no issue."

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda MMA for all the latest news and updates surrounding Jackie Buntan's next fight.