Smilla Sundell became the youngest in ONE Championship’s list of world champions at ONE 156.
On Instagram, the promotion shared a post listing the youngest world champions to show where Sundell stood after capturing the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world championship.
“Smilla Sundell made history on Friday at #ONE156 🏆 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship”
Check out the Instagram post below:
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The comments section was filled with fans who were just in awe of Smilla Sundell’s feat. Some fans got to thinking about what they were able to accomplish at her age, with one fan even questioning his skills. The fan said:
“I’m 29 and still didnt know how to jab correctly.”
Sundell threw some devastating punches on her way to securing the world title through five rounds of action against Jackie Buntan. Fans made it known that they watched how the young Swedish fighter captured the world title last Friday and praised her striking prowess. One fan said:
“That 17 -year-old has hands!”
Jackie Buntan was on a three-bout win streak heading into her matchup with Sundell at ONE 156, and certainly proved that she deserves to be in contention for a world title shot. One fan called for them to go one more time, saying:
“Need to see a rematch!! @jackiebuntan @smilla_fairtex”
Smilla Sundell breaks Angela Lee’s longstanding record
Angela Lee previously held the honor of being the youngest world champion in the history of ONE Championship in May 2016. ‘Unstoppable’ was 19 years old and 9 months when claimed the inaugural ONE women’s atomweight world title against veteran Mei Yamaguchi. To date, she remains the youngest MMA world champion in history.
However, Smilla Sundell’s victory at ONE 156 made her the youngest world champion in the history of ONE Championship by being two years and four months younger than Lee at the time of her win.
Sundell put on an incredible show at ONE 156, shaking off a tense start to control the fight against the very game Jackie Buntan in the co-main event of the card. ‘The Hurricane’ used her length to maintain her distance from Buntan while accurately throwing a flurry of punches throughout the rest of the contest.
Sundell also went home with a US $50,000 performance bonus for her incredible showing. She will have a huge target on her back against some hungry contenders in the division. However, it could take a while before someone emerges to take away her place in history.