Jackie Buntan can’t wait to perform in front of a home crowd at ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III on Prime Video, but she knows she has a tough test ahead.
The American star will take on Diandra Martin in a strawweight Muay Thai clash at Colorado’s 1stBank Center on Friday, May 5, and she’s preparing to face the best version of the Australian striker.
After Martin dropped her debut to current ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Smilla Sundell, she returned to winning ways against Amber Kitchen last August.
For her part, Buntan was impressed by that bounce-back performance.
The Californian said:
“I think after every loss, it depends on what you do with it, but I think she definitely came back better fighting Amber. She showed a lot more of her arsenal and her tool set.”
At 5-foot-3, Buntan knows she will be giving up some height and reach to the 5-foot-7 Aussie, but it’s nothing she can’t overcome.
After all, the Boxing Works representative has spent years honing her skills against taller adversaries, and this will be another chance to utilize that experience when she opens the main card live in U.S. primetime.
The former ONE World Title challenger said:
“She’s another tall girl. She has long legs. I can’t tell you the exact strengths, but I would probably say maybe capitalizing on her range.
“It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole professional career and pretty much half of my amateur career. It’s really coming up with different ways of getting inside and staying inside. And I think I’ve done that in the past.”
Buntan Aims To Showcase ‘Bigger Arsenal’ In Colorado
Like her upcoming foe, Jackie Buntan rebounded from a loss to Smilla Sundell by defeating the UK’s Amber Kitchen. Now, she wants to earn her way back to a shot at gold.
The young striker is always learning and developing alongside her ONE Atomweight Kickboxing World Champion teammate Janet Todd, and she believes that constant evolution is the key to getting back to the top.
The American explained:
“Improving is showing more of my arsenal. In ONE Championship, I’m known for the power and speed of my hands. But I’d really love to show more of my arsenal.
“That doesn’t mean not relying on my hands because my hands are obviously a strength of mine, but showing different weapons off my hands. Of course, that also relates to showing different things with my kicks.”
With a desire to display more of the techniques at her disposal, Buntan does not just want to win against Martin – she wants to win in style.
And while the 25-year-old is known for her boxing, she plans on bringing out some new tricks in front of the hometown audience on May 5.
She added:
“Of course, I see myself winning this fight. Whether it’s a stoppage or it goes all three rounds, I really want to be able to go out there and dominate, show the bigger arsenal that I’m able to use in training, and just let that fly when it matters most.
“I can’t give too many details about exactly what [I’ll attack with] because I’ll be working on various strategies for this camp, but an early night is always nice.”
