Smilla Sundell says finishing sequence of Natalia Diachkova was pure instinct: "Me doing what I did best"

Smilla Sundell needed to make a statement in the main event of ONE Fight Night 22 inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Her ONE strawweight Muay Thai world championship was on the line until the day before fight night when the divisional queen battled adversity before she even stepped inside the ring.

Sundell was stripped of her title after missing weight for the fight. While the title was still on the line for Natalia Diachkova, the emphasis was now on Sundell making up for her struggle on the scales.

She did just that in the second round, where she stopped her opponent with a devastating body shot after battling through a tough opening round. Whilst the finish appeared to be a well-executed plan, Sundell credits this final blow with her muscle memory inside the ring.

Smilla Sundell told the South China Morning Post after the fight that at the time, she wasn't even aware of what she had done to find the knockout:

"I think that was me doing what I did best. I don't know what I did really good this time around, to be honest"

Watch the full interview below:

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Smilla Sundell eventually found her groove

The opening round of the main event was a difficult opening to the fight for Smilla Sundell.

The boxing skills of Diackova were on full show in the first few minutes as she constantly landed clean shots on the former champion as Sundell looked to close the range in the fight.

In the second round, Sundell's pressure style started to be more effective as she was able to settle into her groove and land strikes of her own. From this point on, it was only going to be difficult to stop her constant forward motion from constantly building minute by minute.

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