Smilla Sundell started Thai boxing at the age of eleven and had her first professional match when she was twelve.
Since then, the Stockholmer has had a meteoric career and in 2022, as a 17-year-old, she became world champion in ONE Championship.
– It is one of the world’s largest organizations, together with the UFC they are at the top. And in Asia they are the biggest. It’s great fun to compete there and this is my dream. I have trained very hard for many years for this, she tells SVT Sport from her home in Thailand.
This weekend she was stripped of her championship belt after missing weight by 600 grams for her strawweight title match (56.7 kilos), although she won the match itself afterwards.
Sundell’s future plans – several belts
First and foremost, she wants to go one more match at strawweight and win back “her” belt, but in the long term the Swede has even bigger plans.
– There is a kickboxing belt in ONE that I would also like to have. Then there is something called “mixed-rules” that I want to try, where you might compete in the first round in Thai boxing, then the next in MMA, and so on, says Sundell, adding:
– But within a few years I want to switch to MMA.
Trains MMA in anticipation of a fight
In anticipation of her next Thai boxing match, Smilla Sundell will train more MMA-based.
– I usually go over a bit to the MMA side when I don’t have a fight going on. I’ve had to learn BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and grappling, which I’m not as good at.
When can a switch to MMA take place?
– It will probably be within two years. I just need to feel the rules first.
Most people want to go to the UFC. Is that a dream you have too?
– Right now it’s not, I like to drive for ONE where there is also pure Thai boxing and kickboxing.
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See Smilla Sundell’s knock – the opponent on his way out through the ropes. Photo: AP