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ONE Championship fans have watched Jackie Buntan evolve into an elite striker in front of their eyes. The 27-year-old made her ONE debut back in February 2021 and has gone on to achieve incredible things ever since.
In her latest outing at ONE 169, Buntan reached the pinnacle by becoming the inaugural ONE strawweight kickboxing world champion.
However, some of that credit is owed to her coaches as she spoke about during a recent podcast interview with The Casuals.
The divisional queen specifically highlighted the work of her coach Bryan Popejoy who has taken on the roll of studying tape and breaking down her opponents:
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"Bryan does. He's like, king of that. He has such a detailed eye. I think that's why he's such an amazing coach. He sees every little detail. When I was younger, I would film study my opponents a lot, and I don't know, as I got into ONE Championship, I stopped doing that. I felt like I kind of got in my head about it."
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Jackie Buntan continued, providing more context around what Popejoy brings to the table:
"So I just watched like, a round of it, and kind of just got an idea of how they move. And then Bryan will kind of just send clips. Like, okay, she rhythm steps, this is where you got to get her. Her hand's dropping, like, so he's really the one sending me all the details and stuff. For sure, he's a genius, a wizard with it."
Watch the full interview below:
Jackie Buntan is able to focus on herself
As Jackie Buntan said herself, having someone like Bryan Popejoy in her corner means that studying opponents is one less thing for her to worry about.
Rather than, as she stated, getting in her own head about it, she lets her coach pass her this information so that she can prioritize being the best version of herself on fight night.
The team has produced some remarkable victories and her win over modern day kickboxing great Anissa Meksen at ONE 169 is undoubtedly their finest accomplishment to date.
