Black Belt Team 
Jackie Buntan will try to make an emphatic statement when ONE Championship makes its U.S. debut next month. The global martial arts promotion will make landfall in Colorado on Friday, May 5, with a stacked lineup for ONE Fight Night 10.
Of the four Muay Thai athletes competing on the card, only Buntan will be representing America. With the sport growing domestically, Buntan admits there is pressure coming into this bout wearing the stars and stripes around her shoulders.
“A hundred percent [there is pressure]. It’s not like the pressure where it’s keeping me up at night and I can’t eat. But yeah, it’s in the back of my head. Of course, I want to perform not only for myself, but I’m the only U.S. athlete representing Muay Thai on this show, here on home soil,” Buntan told ONE.
“I feel like I have to go hard. I have to put on a performance to make the fans and people who don’t know about Muay Thai excited to watch me again, watch Muay Thai again, and tune in to ONE Championship again. All of that is a win for everyone.”
Buntan will be charged with opening the main card and setting the tone for the historic event. Standing opposite her inside the Circle will be Diandra Martin. Carrying the weight of the sport, Buntan is going to make sure the match is a nonstop, action-packed thriller for the crowd.
That is why she sees this as a massive win for the sport. Muay Thai is being elevated to a new level at ONE Fight Night 10 on Prime Video. The spectacle that will be the loaded event will help continue the exceptional growth of Muay Thai worldwide.
“American fans should be extremely excited, and from what I take in, they are extremely excited. This is a huge thing in Muay Thai – an organization of this magnitude, ONE Championship, not just bringing Muay Thai to the big screen, but bringing it to the States with that much ammo,” said the Boxing Works athlete.
“Of course, there’s Muay Thai in the states, local shows. When I was an amateur, I competed in empty gyms or little local casinos with crowds of 50 or 100 people. But the only big fights you can see here in the States are all MMA fights. So for fans within the Muay Thai community, this is a big win for us. But fans outside of the community, they really don’t know what they’re in for.”
In ONE, Muay Thai is contested in four-ounce gloves. This has led the sport to being one of the most exciting combat sports on the planet. For fans who have yet to experience it, Buntan promises they will be initiated with an exciting war when the bell rings for her battle with Martin.
“This is something that they haven’t seen before. It’s something new, but yet again, it’s also familiar with it being in a cage, with the 4-ounce gloves on. So there’s a level of relatability and familiarity in there,” said Buntan.
“I think being able to put on a solid performance, and an exciting one at that, lets fight fans know this is really the new era of Muay Thai.”
“The rule set, the gloves, the cage, three rounds only — it just puts you in a situation where you’ve got to go, making it exciting on both ends.”
ONE Fight Night 10 airs live and free on Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Friday, May 5. The event is included for free for all Amazon Prime subscribers based in the U.S. and Canada.
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