“Women's sports is growing” - Jackie Buntan happy to lead women’s martial arts as newly crowned world champion

Newly crowned ONE women's strawweight kickboxing world champion Jackie Buntan of the United States and the Philippines is proud to carry her nation's flag into the world's largest martial arts organization.

More importantly, however, Buntan is thankful for the opportunity to bear the torch for women in combat sports. And that's exactly what she did in an impressive unanimous decision victory over legendary French-Algerian fighter Anissa Meksen at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug on Prime Video.

Speaking to Beyond Kick in a recent interview, Buntan talked about her world title-winning performance and why it was so important.

The 27-year-old Boxing Works representative stated:

"It’s not just about being able to compete for a belt — it's about having two women at the top of their game, on top of the sport, competing for something so huge and massive in a place where women weren't welcomed in the past."

Buntan added:

"I think it shows that the sport is growing, women's sports is growing and I hope more opportunities like this arise for more females and myself. That would skyrocket females and Muay Thai kickboxing where it deserves to be."

ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug on Prime Video took place live from the historic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand last Saturday, November 9. Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action live via replay on-demand with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.

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Jackie Buntan says focus on being healthy led to career-best performance against Anissa Meksen: "Making sure I come back strong"

Strawweight kickboxing queen Jackie Buntan made health and fitness her primary focus heading into the Anissa Meksen showdown at ONE 169: Malykhin vs. Reug Reug on Prime Video, and it paid dividends.

This is after dealing with many injuries that have plagued her in the past.

She told Beyond Kick:

"I was going super hard on it. I had nothing else to do. I couldn't train so I figured to just put all my eggs into a basket, into making sure I come back strong, and I was able to start camp completely healthy with no injuries."