"It would be good" - 'Wondergirl' Nat Jaroonsak on ONE Muay Thai champion Smilla Sundell possibly indulging MMA interest

After a successful transition to mixed martial arts at ONE Championship 157, 'Wondergirl' Nat Jaroonsak spoke with Tom Taylor from the South China Morning Post to discuss her shift to MMA and the possibility of other Muay Thai stars making the same jump.

Reigning Muay Thai champion Smilla Sundell has previously stated that she is interested in a transition to mixed martial arts. When asked how Sundell would fair in MMA, ‘Wondergirl’ said:

“Yeah, I don’t know. She’s not really good at clinching. She’s mostly a strike style fighter. I don’t think she’d had to wrestling a lot. She has really good flexibility. She’s strong, she has a good reach. She has flexibility [making] it really hard to tap her out. She’s a very good striker, so yeah, it would be good."

Sundell made her ONE debut in February. She scored a third-round TKO over Diandra Martin. Two months later, she faced Jackie Buntan for the ONE strawweight Muay Thai championship.

After five rounds, Sundell earned the unanimous decision. At the age of 17, Sundell became the youngest person to ever win a Muay Thai world championship.

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'Wondergirl' Nat Jaroonsak would continue to fight in Muay Thai if requested

After her successful MMA debut, it seemed like a career in Muay Thai was all but over for Nat Jaroonsak. That may not be the case.

While speaking to SCMP, 'Wondergirl' was asked if she would accept an offer to return to Muay Thai for ONE Championship, Nat Jaroonsak said:

“I train both, but mostly I focus more in MMA sessions. If they want me to fight Muay Thai, I want them to tell [me] early so I can focus only [on] Muay Thai just for that fight coming up. If ever I’m not ready, I’m not gonna take that. MMA and Muay Thai is really kind of different.”

When asked about how training for a Muay Thai fight compares to training for MMA, Nat Jaroonsak stated:

“A Muay Thai fight, it’s just one sport. Just one martial art. You can add some footwork or boxing. In Muay Thai that’s fine, but MMA is a lot of things to work. You have to focus on the new things you never knew before. Like me, I’m a striker. I need to focus more on wrestling or BJJ [Brazilian jiu-jitsu]. I need to evolve myself. I feel like I’m still not good enough. I still have a lot of work to do."