Jackie Buntan impressed by Allycia Hellen Rodrigues’ ‘adaptability’ vs. Smilla Sundell: “That speaks volumes”

At ONE Fight Night 14, Jackie Buntan was expecting to compete on a huge card that featured some of the best female martial artists on the planet.

Set for a huge rematch with ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Smilla Sundell, fans were eager to see the pair run it back after their great contest for the inaugural title last year.

Unfortunately, Buntan retreated from the tie for personal reasons, Buntan was replaced by atomweight Muay Thai champ Allycia Hellen Rodrigues.

While she was disappointed not to be competing herself, the Filipino-American still kept a close eye on the card to watch her former foe successfully defend her title against the champion of the weight class below.

With a keen interest to see how both women would fair in this new match-up, Buntan was no stranger to watching the Brazilian world champion Rodrigues, thanks to her comeback fight against Buntan’s close friend and training partner, Janet Todd.

In an interview with Alex Wendling, Jackie Buntan spoke about her main takeaways from tuning into the action from the Singapore Indoor Stadium and why she had an interest in this match-up despite losing out on her rematch:

“I mean it was kind of just funny how it worked out, like me and Janet’s two former opponents, are now competing against each other. For me, I think I like to see the adaptability of each fighter, whether I'm competing against them or not.”

Most importantly, Buntan pays close attention to her fellow strikers in ONE Championship in order to see how well they’re able to adjust to different opponents and evolve in front of our eyes:

Just to see how they're able to adapt from their last fight because I think that speaks volumes if you can go in there the next time and showcase some new styles and techniques. I think that matters most.

Watch the full interview below:

North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 14 via the free event replay.