Smilla Sundell wants to work her way back to strawweight Muay Thai crown: "I hope to get that belt back"

Smilla Sundell fought through a fight week of highs and lows but came out of ONE Fight Night 22 with a clear sense of direction. The 19-year-old elite striker has never been short on motivation but now she is out to reclaim her ONE strawweight Muay Thai world championship.

The world champion was stripped of the title after failing to make weight ahead of her main event title defense against Natalia Diachkova on May 3.

Questions over potentially ONE Championship bringing in a flyweight division so that Sundell could move up given her growing frame were only natural to appear quickly.

However, after Sundell's incredible come-from-behind victory over Diachkova in the main event, she made one thing clear.

Whilst flyweight is certainly in her near future, the former divisional queen believes that with a longer training camp, she can still make strawweight to win back her belt.

Sundell spoke about being happy with the win but motivated to hold her title once again in a post-fight interview with the South China Morning Post. She said:

"It has been emotional. Yeah, I'm a bit sad, but happy I got the win. Probably the next time, I will fight for the belt again. I hope to get that belt back."

Watch the full interview below:

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Smilla Sundell answers some big questions on fight night

Smilla Sundell may have missed weight ahead of fight night but her answers to the questions she faced are hard to argue with.

Making strawweight for such a tall competitor is never going to be the easiest of tasks but she remains confident that she can still do it if given the right time to prepare her body.

The other side to this is that on fight night, she still proved herself to be a force of nature inside the ring even after a tough weight cut that saw her get stripped of the title.

Flyweight beckons but for the time being, Sundell is out to take back what was previously hers.

North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 22 via the free event replay.