Jackie Buntan admits she ‘had no inklings and no intention’ to become a fighter as a kid: “I just wanted to do this as a hobby”

Things would’ve turned out differently if Jackie Buntan stayed her course.

The Filipino-American star was still finding her footing when she joined Boxing Works in California as a kid. From what she considered “as a hobby” growing up, turned into her life’s focus.

Buntan admitted in an interview with Alex Wendling that she had no intentions of making a career out of fighting until one of the coaches at Boxing Works convinced her to do so.

That decision led to Buntan becoming one of the world’s top women’s strikers and one of the most integral figures in the growth of the women’s strawweight division in ONE Championship.

Buntan said:

“So yeah, I started training at 11 and then maybe two years in when I was 13 one of our coaches at the time, he doesn't train with us anymore, but Daryl he's the one who actually asked me if I wanted to fight. Prior to that, I had no inklings and no intentions to fight. I just wanted to do this as a hobby but I trained for two years going, you know, pretty much every day as a kid and I really sat on it for a while.”

The 26-year-old star is now one of the most recognizable female strikers and was even on the cusp of a historic world title win in 2022.

Buntan faced Smilla Sundell for the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world title at ONE 156 in April 2022 but fell short in a unanimous decision loss to the Swedish phenom.

She’s since recovered from the loss, her lone defeat in ONE Championship, with two electrifying wins over Amber Kitchen and Diandra Martin.

Buntan was also scheduled for a world title rematch against Sundelli in September but had to pull out of the match due to family reasons.

Watch Buntan's entire interview below: