Stella Hemetsberger was prepared with great Jackie Buntan read on lean back: “We definitely worked on my left hook”

Newly-crowned ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai world champion Stella Hemetsberger carefully studied Jackie Buntan’s tendencies and used them to her full advantage.

In the main event of ONE Fight Night 35 on Sept. 5, Hemetsberger became Austria’s first-ever ONE world champion with a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over the Filipino-American superstar.

In the build-up to this massive female striking war, the 26-year-old discovered that Buntan had a habit of leaning back to avoid incoming head kicks.

This defensive movement created openings for perfectly timed counter-attacks, something that Hemetsberger gladly exploited.

‘Always Hungry’ put that plan in motion as early as Round 1, knocking down Buntan twice with ferocious right hooks after witnessing her bobbing and weaving.

In her post-event interview, Hemetsberger credited her coaches’ perfect game plan for allowing her to secure an early lead against Buntan:

"So yeah, we definitely worked on my right hook. We worked on what we're gonna do if she leans back and how we're gonna come back, but we just managed to put it together the right way."

Those two stunning knockdowns in the opening round certainly gave Hemetsberger the early lead she needed to withstand Buntan's championship-rounds surge and secure her historic victory.

North American fans can rewatch the epic ONE Fight Night 35 spectacle on demand with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.

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Stella Hemetsberger made sure all bases were covered for Jackie Buntan

While Stella Hemetsberger meticulously crafted a counterattack for Jackie Buntan's propensity to lean back, she also made sure not to lack in other areas.

As expected, the strawweight kickboxing queen rallied after those two early knockdowns and gave the Austrian a challenging fight up until the final buzzer.

But Hemetsberger knew her Filipino-American foe wouldn't give up easily, and kept her foot on the gas en route to her hard-fought unanimous decision victory.

"As I said before the fight, we prepared for everything. So we didn't put a specific game plan to exactly execute one technique, but we worked to be overall complete and be ready for everything,” Hemetsberger said in the post-event interviews.