‘The New Era of Muay Thai’ – Jackie Buntan Aims to Popularize Muay Thai in the US With “Exciting” ONE Fight Night 10 Performance

Published 04/03/2023, 5:43 AM EDT

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The noted ONE Muay Thai star, Jackie Buntan, had a lot to say about ONE Championship’s first-ever event on the soil of her home country. The 25-year-old currently boasts a strong 4-1 record and is one of the most noted faces in the Muay Thai division in the promotion. Buntan is also scheduled to feature in the ONE Fight Night 10 card to be held at 1stBank Center in Denver, Colorado.

She gave out her views on how she and ONE Championship can help the sport of Muay Thai gain popularity in the US. She also talked about how she had already started feeling the heat for the May 5 event on her home soil. Buntan also laid stress on how there’s a pretty limited audience for the ‘art of eight limbs’ in the US. But now, with the noted ONE Championship bringing Muay Thai to the US, she was pretty hopeful about the sport gaining more US following.

Jackie Buntan admitted that she was under pressure

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The girl from California was set to square off against the Australian, Diandra Martin, at her next outing on May 5. But, it was probably Buntan’s large vision related to her fight that got her under some pressure.

In an interview with ONE, she stated, “It’s not like the pressure where it’s keeping me up at night and I can’t eat. But yeah, it’s in the back of my head. Of course, I want to perform not only for myself, but I’m the only U.S. athlete representing Muay Thai on this show, here on home soil”.

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A lot of fans might relate to Buntan’s words. We all have probably been through such situations in life. Moving on, Buntan also talked about what she could do to help the sport of Muay Thai make a lot of new fans in the US. She also talked about how it was important to put up an exciting performance that would make more US citizens tune into Muay Thai and ONE Championship.

The Filipino-American mentioned, “I have to put on a performance to make the fans and people who don’t know about Muay Thai excited to watch me again, watch Muay Thai again, and tune in to ONE Championship again. All of that is a win for everyone.”

It was evident that Buntan wants to give it her all in order to bring in new followers for her favorite sport.

Jackie Buntan envisioned the growth of Muay Thai in the US after ONE’s contributions

Buntan also mentioned that there was a pretty healthy combat sports community in the US. But boxing and MMA were the two most viewed and discussed sports in that community. However, with ONE Championship hosting a such large-scale event featuring Muay Thai and probably more in the future, she was definitely hopeful that ‘the art of eight limbs’ will eventually catch up with its counterparts.

She mentioned, “This is a huge thing in Muay Thai – an organization of this magnitude, ONE Championship, not just bringing Muay Thai to the big screen, but bringing it to the States with that much ammo”.

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The ‘ONE Strawweight’ also talked about her role in drawing more people to Muay Thai, stating, “I think being able to put on a solid performance, and an exciting one at that, lets fight fans know this is really the new era of Muay Thai”.

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She also talked about why Muay Thai was bound to be exciting as she said, “The rule set, the gloves, the cage, three rounds only — it just puts you in a situation where you’ve got to go, making it exciting on both ends.”

A lot of fans might agree that these pre-fight revelations actually serve a lot of purposes. Many who heard of Muay Thai for the first time through her, might already have developed an inquisitiveness for it. However, it will also be exciting to witness whether Buntan can fulfill her revealed vision with a win or not.

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Written by:

Souvik Roy

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Souvik Roy is currently a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. An avid UFC follower, Souvik combined his love for the sport and his passion for words to turn his interest into his Livelihood. A Diploma holder in Electrical Engineering, Souvik has worked as a Freelance Link Builder and Content Writer previously and wrote for various clients and businesses.
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Edited by:

Rohini Kottu