Jackie Buntan admits it’s ‘tricky’ to find training partners who can emulate Smilla Sundell’s length

ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai star Jackie Buntan knows how daunting of a task it is to match up against Smilla Sundell.

After all, it’s extremely challenging to prepare for the 19-year-old Swedish phenom, given her physical gifts and uncanny talent.

Buntan recently spoke with Alex Wendling on her YouTube channel and discussed her budding career.

Of course, her rival and reigning women’s strawweight Muay Thai queen Sundell came up, and Buntan recalled how difficult it was to find someone who could mimic what she brings to the table.

“She's definitely very tall, about 5’8. You know every fight, especially with Janet [Todd], we're both kind of able to emulate whatever style we're fighting against. So with Smilla, it was a tricky one. It wasn’t more emulating her style when we first fought back last year it was more just finding the right people who mimic her height.

Jackie Buntan furthered:

“And you know, we have some tall people at our gym that I train with like 5'8 or 5'9, some even 5’10. I trained with some of the guys for that fight just to mimic the height and be able to practice that range.”

Apart from Sundell’s intimidating height and reach, her overall brilliance in ‘The Art of Eight Limbs’ sets her apart.

‘The Hurricane’ remains unbeaten in four matches under the ONE banner and has already bested Buntan before in their initial encounter.

Buntan for her part, admitted that Sundell appeared much bigger than she imagined when they first shared the Circle.

“I don't know, even when we fought me and her on Fight Night, I kind of felt like she was even taller than the people I trained with. That was probably the only thing. Finding the right person who mimics that height because yeah, I'm Filipino, I'm definitely five-foot-five.”

Jackie Buntan and Smilla Sundell’s rematch for the ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world title is expected to be rebooked early next year.

Here’s the full interview: