Current ONE women’s strawweight kickboxing champion Jackie Buntan is looking to give back to the American Muay Thai scene and reminisces about her early career, when she struggled financially while traveling and trying to make a name for herself as an amateur in the not-so-lucrative American Muay Thai scene.
“I’ve totally been there as an amateur fighter trying to fundraise with seminars or selling T-shirts, so I’ve literally been through it all. Anything I can do to help my teammates achieve their dreams, especially bringing back a gold medal, I’m all there for.”
“My amateur days, my younger days are what helped me get to where I’m at today, and I truly understand that struggle.”
Jackie Buntan is currently taking part in a Muay Thai fundraising seminar. That will attempt to raise money to help support American amateurs traveling and competing in Turkey for the 2025 IFMA Senior World Championship, one of the biggest tournaments an amateur nak muay can win, as close to the Olympics as it gets.
Jackie Buntan and the harsh reality of the striking arts in America.
The United States is a sports mecca, with many of the world’s greatest athletes and athletic titles being competed for in the Country. That also includes combat sports such as boxing, MMA, and wrestling. However, Muay Thai and Kickboxing are not as well-represented as other sports. For a nation as powerful as the United States, American Muay Thai and kickboxing athletes face a struggle that no other athletes have.
There is no financial support and little overall support from the American sports communities, as many people who want to pursue professional careers in kickboxing and Muay Thai often transition to mixed martial arts, which is a travesty as the United States used to be a place where kickboxing was at the top of the world in the full-contact scene. But Jackie Buntan is the exception, and with their gym Boxing Works in California, they have defied the odds and rewritten the narrative.
Proving that although it may be difficult, a North American athlete doesn’t need to travel to Europe, Australia, or Thailand to be something in Muay Thai. That, with the right combination of grit and will, it can be done here in the USA.
