“They said it had no future” – ‘Wondergirl’ recalls when people doubted if she could make a career from fighting

Many doubted Nat ‘Wondergirl’ Jaroonsak if she could make a good career doing combat sports when she was starting. Now, she is happy to have proven them wrong.

The 24-year-old Thai fighter has accomplished a lot since picking up combat sports, amassing more than 50 Muay Thai bouts and winning two national titles before deciding to join ONE Championship in 2020.

Wondergirl started her ONE journey competing in Muay Thai before switching to mixed martial arts last year.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the Jaroonsak Muaythai/Soutside MMA athlete recalled how when she was starting many said she had no future in combat sports, saying:

“When I was in middle school or even earlier, most people said fighting wasn’t a potential career for me. They said I wouldn’t be able to go this far, make money, and do something like this. They said it had no future.”

Wondergirl will go for another feather in her cap by taking on ONE women’s strawweight MMA world champion Xiong Jing Nan of China in a special rules striking match later this month.

The clash is part of ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video, happening on September 29 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and is available live and for free to Prime Video subscribers in North America.

As per published reports, the scheduled strawweight special rules match will have the protagonists only allowed to use punches while sporting four-ounce gloves.

Kicks, knee and elbow strikes are prohibited, with the match scored under ONE Championship’s kickboxing and Muay Thai rules with a 10-point must system.

At ONE Fight Night 14, Wondergirl will try to bounce back after losing to Australian Lisa Kyriacou by unanimous decision in their MMA match back in July.

Xiong Jing Nan, for her part, will be making her return to competition since last competing in September 2022, where she successfully defended the ONE strawweight world title against atomweight queen Angela Lee in an all-champion fight.

It was the fourth straight victory of ‘The Panda,’ who boasts of an impressive 9-1 record in ONE Championship.