Smilla Sundell (born 12 November 2004) is a Swedish

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...

. She is currently signed to

ONE Championship ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

, where she is the current ONE Women's Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion. On April 22, 2022, Sundell became the youngest person to ever win a world title in Muay Thai by defeating

Jackie Buntan Jackielou Buntan (born July 2, 1997) is a Filipino-American Muay Thai kickboxer, currently competing in the strawweight division of ONE Championship, where she is a one-time ONE Women's Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship title challenge ...

to win the inaugural ONE Women's Strawweight Championship at 17 years and 5 months. As of April 2023, she is ranked as the number two female featherweight (57.153 kg) Muay Thai practitioner in the world by the

WBC Muaythai WBC may stand for: Business * Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale' ...

Early life

Born in

Sundbyberg Sundbyberg Municipality (''Sundbybergs kommun'' or ''Sundbybergs stad'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, just north of the capital Stockholm. Sundbyberg is wholly within the Stockholm urban area and has a 100% urban p ...

, Sweden, Sundell started practicing

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

at five years old for self-defense. She first tried her hand at

at 10 or 11, while on vacation in Thailand. Sundell and her family moved to

Ko Samui Ko Samui (or Koh Samui, also often locally shortened to Samui; th, เกาะสมุย, ) is an island off the east coast of Thailand. Geographically in the Chumphon Archipelago, it is part of Surat Thani Province, though as of 2012, Ko ...

when she was 12 years old due to her parents' careers. She and her younger sister started practicing Muay Thai at a gym called Yodyut Muay Thai due to a lack of any other sports. When Sundell was 15, her family moved back to Sweden. But she stayed in Thailand to pursue Muay Thai. Running out of opponents in Ko Samui and inspired by watching

Stamp Fairtex Nadthawan Panthong ( th, ณัฐวรรณ พานทอง, born November 16, 1997), known professionally as Stamp Fairtex ( th, แสตมป์ แฟร์เท็กซ์, links=no), is a Thai Muay Thai kickboxer and mixed marti ...

, in October 2019 she moved to

Pattaya Pattaya ( th, พัทยา, , ) is a city in Thailand. It is on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about southeast of Bangkok, within, but not part of, Bang Lamung district in the province of Chonburi province, Chonburi. Pattaya City ( ...

and joined the

Fairtex Gym Fairtex Gym is the name given to a number of Muay Thai, Kick boxing, Boxing, Brazilian jiujitsu and Mixed martial arts gyms around the world. The original Fairtex Gym was founded in Bangkok, Thailand in 1975. History The Fairtex Garments Factor ...

, where she currently lives by herself.

Career

In early 2021, Sundell was ranked the number one female featherweight (57.153 kg) Muay Thai practitioner in the world by the

at 16 years of age. She has notable victories over decorated champion Sawsing Sor Sopit, Ponpan Por.Muengpetch, and male fighter Bongsak Sitpholek. After amassing a record of 31 wins, 5 losses and 1 draw, Sundell signed with

in 2021. In her ONE Championship debut at ONE: Full Circle on 25 February 2022, Sundell faced Australia's Diandra Martin. She won the fight by TKO in round 3. This was her first fight in four-once

MMA gloves MMA gloves or grappling gloves are small, open-fingered gloves used in mixed martial arts bouts. They usually have around 4–6 oz of padding and are designed to provide some protection to the person wearing the glove, but leave the fingers avail ...

, which are smaller than the usual gloves used in Muay Thai. At

ONE 156 ''ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadiković'' was a Combat sport event produced by ONE Championship that took place on April 22, 2022, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Background The event will be headlined by a ONE Lightweight Kickb ...

on 22 April 2022, she challenged

for the inaugural

ONE Women's Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship This is a list of ONE Championship champions in each weight division of each sport. Current champions Men's championship history Heavyweight World Championship ::''Weight limit: '' Light Heavyweight World Championship ::''Weight lim ...

. Sundell won by unanimous decision, making her the youngest person to ever win a world title. The fight also earned her a $50,000

Performance of the Night UFC Bonus Awards are three separate cash bonuses usually awarded to four fighters after each UFC event, based on internal decisions by UFC management. More/fewer bonuses have been awarded at some events, especially when no knockouts or submissions ...

bonus. Sundell made her kickboxing debut against Milana Bjelogrlić at ONE Friday Fights 18 on May 26, 2023. She won the fight by unanimous decision.

Championships and awards

(One time; current) *** Youngest person to win a world title in ONE history ** ONE Super Series Female Fighter of the Year 2022 **

(One time)

Fight record

, - style="background:#cfc;" , 2023-05-26 , , Win , , align=left, Milana Bjelogrlić , , ONE Friday Fights 18 , ,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, , Decision (Unanimous) , , 3 , , 3:00 , , Kickboxing match , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2022-04-22 , , Win , , align=left,

, ,

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the no ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, , Decision (Unanimous) , , 5 , , 3:00 , , , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2022-02-25 , , Win , , align=left, Diandra Martin , , ONE: Full Circle , ,

, , TKO (3 Knockdowns), , 3 , , 1:35 , , , - style="background:#c5d2ea;" , 2020-12-13 , , Draw , , align=left, Fahseethong Sitzoraueng , ,

Super Champ Muay Thai Muay Thai Super Champ ( th, มวยไทยซุปเปอร์แชมป์), known as LWC Super Champ (Lumpinee World Championship Super Champ), is a weekly Muay Thai program that broadcasts live on Thai television in Bangkok. Unlik ...

, ,

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, ,

, , KO (Knee to the head), , 2 , , 2:07 , , , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2020-02-29 , , Win , , align=left, Nicola Callander , , Rogue Muay Thai , , Eatons Hill, Queensland,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, , Decision (Unanimous), , 5 , , 2:00 , , , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

References

External links

Smilla Sundell
at

ONE 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...