"Put all my eggs into a basket" - Jackie Buntan says she went "super hard" during fight camp for Anissa Meksen war at ONE 169
Jackie Buntan put a lot into her latest outing in ONE Championship and it massively paid off for her. At ONE 169, the Filipino-American striker faced arguably the toughest test of her career but it brought the best out of her this past weekend.
Buntan wouldn't just be making her kickboxing debut at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. She'd be facing off with a world-class veteran of the sport with the inaugural strawweight kickboxing world championship on the line.
The underdog got her hand raised via a close decision against Anissa Meksen in a fight that was delayed due to an injury that Jackie Buntan suffered before their first scheduled encounter.
The new world champion spoke in an interview with Beyond Kick about how she used this time to prepare herself for a tough training camp. By putting all of her focus into this fight and recovery during her short time on the sidelines, she was able to capitalize on this focus in the contest itself:
"I was going super hard on it. I had nothing else to do. I couldn't train so I figured to just put all my eggs into a basket, making sure I come back strong, and I was able to start camp completely healthy with no injuries."
Jackie Buntan proved her mettle at ONE 169
One of the things that gave Jackie Buntan a lot of confidence coming into this fight was her ability to adapt to different opponents and challenges. She may be known as a Muay Thai competitor but that experience in high-level striking would carry over to her clash with Meksen.
This is exactly what we saw in the fight and though her opponent certainly had her moments in what was a closely contested fight over five rounds, it was Buntan's strengths that she has shown throughout her ONE career that made the difference.