ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong will 'consider' 135lbs women's Muay Thai division after Smilla Sundell misses weight, loses belt on scale

Smilla Sundell could soon get her wish for a new home at 135 pounds with ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong "considering" creating a women's flyweight Muay Thai division.

The 19-year-old Swede was stripped of her strawweight built after missing weight for Saturday's ONE Fight Night 22 main event against Natalia Diachkova of Russia.

Diachkova can still win the vacant title at Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok after she agreed to a 126.5lbs catchweight, taking 30 percent of Sundell's purse. The 29-year-old told Sportskeeda on Friday morning:

"It's no problem for me, I'm ready to fight."

Natalia Diachkova poses on the scale at the ONE Fight Night 22 ceremonial weigh-ins.

The Asia-based martial arts organization would have to start signing plenty of new fighters to fill out the division, the majority likely from Western countries.

That would not be a problem, according to Sityodtong, who insisted there is "a lot of outstanding talent" that could be brought in.

The promotion's chairman and CEO told Sportskeeda soon after Sundell lost her belt on the scale at Thursday's official weigh-ins that her days having to cut down to a division her body has seemingly outgrown could soon be over. He said:

"Yes, I've already been considering it a long time ago."

Sundell and her team welcomed the news, with 'The Hurricane' having pushed her body to the limit on Thursday trying to make weight.

The former champion spent more than five hours in a sauna near the host Best Western Wanda Grand Hotel, alternating five minutes in and out, with her younger sister Leia sweating through every minute of it with her in a show of support.

But with no more weight coming off, Sundell finally headed to the weigh-ins. After arriving more than two hours into the official three-hour testing window, she was 2.7lbs over the 125lbs limit in an unofficial check.

Her father, Christofer, considered extreme tactics like cutting her hair off, but she eventually stopped trying to lose weight with 20 minutes left before the deadline, having passed hydration and stepped on the scales – officially – 1.5 lbs over.

In the immediate aftermath, Christofer was angry about an earlier start time for the weigh-ins, which were bumped up to 5 PM from the usual 8 PM local start time. But he admitted to Sportskeeda the next morning his daughter simply had no weight left to lose in her body.

A growth spurt after her most recent fight last September, a successful first title defense against atomweight Muay Thai champion Allycia Rodrigues, had seen the teenager shoot up another two centuries in height, up to 1.79 meters overall – or nearly 6ft.

After shaking off the disappointment, Smilla Sundell said at Friday's ceremonial weigh-ins and face-offs at Cielo Sky Bar in downtown Bangkok:

"I'm very sad I didn't make it yesterday. I really tried my best. But I'm tall. Yeah, maybe we do a rematch in the future for the belt, but right now I will focus on this fight."

Smilla Sundell speaks to Dom Lau at the ONE Fight Night 22 ceremonial weigh-ins.

Unlike her teammates such as Stamp Fairtex, ONE's atomweight MMA champion, Sundell has even been unable to lift weights in recent months at their Pattaya-based gym for fear of putting on too much muscle mass.

She was still confident she could get down to 125 pounds, having arrived in fight week lower than 135 like usual, but her nutritionist Peter Miller had already told Sportskeeda that Sundell had "only one or two fights left" in the weight class anyway before she would no longer be able to make it.

Sundell and her father had expressed a similar sentiment in private to Sportskeeda after a pre-fight interview and admitted they hoped for the creation of a flyweight division.

For now, Sundell will focus on navigating the dangerous challenge of Diachkova, who knocked out three of her four opponents on ONE Friday Fights en route to earning a US$100,000 ONE Championship contract. Sundell said:

"She's one of the toughest opponents I've faced. She's got dangerous hands, so I will have to watch out. I always go for the [knockout], that's what I'll try to do."