Jackie Buntan welcomes prospect of ONE strawweight Grand Prix

Jackie Buntan will compete for the inaugural ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai world title at ONE: Eersel vs Sadikovic on April 22.

The Filipina-American had a fantastic year in 2021 as she racked up a flawless 3-0 record in the promotion. Her victories put her in pole position to compete for the belt and she'll be going up against Sweden's Smilla Sundell for the right to become the division's first champion.

Sundell is just 17 and has only one fight in ONE. Regardless, she certainly impressed on her debut and scored a third-round knockout against Australia's Deandra Martin in February.

It's unusual for fighters to get a title shot after just one win inside the promotion - but women's strawweight is a newer division compared to others and the COVID-19 pandemic distrupted its activity.

Buntan has fought more than all of her rivals, and believes that a Grand Prix would be the perfect way to establish the first contender for her crown should she be successful on Friday. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, she said:

"100% I think that would be awesome. Every fighter loves competition and being in a Grand Prix type of setting is elite competition. I think that would be really fun."

She added:

"It would be great to be involved with it but I just feel like I've had the most success in terms of fights so far in my division so it would make sense to have the other women settle it out in terms of rankings and see where they are and go from there."

The Grand Prix has become a popular staple for ONE in recent years. The organization just concluded the star-studded featherweight kickboxing tournament with Chingiz Allazov coming out victorious against Sitthichai at ONE: X.

Last week, ONE also announced that there would be a flyweight Grand Prix for Muay Thai and that champion Rodtang would be taking part.

---

Jackie Buntan says ONE world title 'would mean everything'

The California native has been dreaming of a world title belt since she signed with ONE Championship last year. The 24-year-old has shown her quality in all three of her outings inside the cage and sees the belt as the culmination of a lifetime's hard work.

She further told Sportskeeda MMA:

"Being able to get my first world title in ONE would mean everything to me. It's not just a two month camp in the making, this is ever since I started at 11 years old - it's 13 years in the making. It's my whole journey and it's just the start of the journey so it's a big moment for me."

Having established herself as one of the biggest Muay Thai talents in the promotion, Buntan was asked if she'd consider pursuing belts in multiple divisions. The Boxing Works star is a close friend and sparring partner of atomweight kickboxing champion Janet Todd, and said she prefers to focus on strawweight for the time being where she intends to make herself "the woman to beat."