Swedish ONE Champion title holder and phenom Smilla Sundell is still on cloud nine following the successful defense of her Muay Thai flyweight title after finishing Brazilian strawweight champ Allycia Rodrigues.
The fight would come to an end in the third round, but it was hardly smooth sailing to get there for the young Swede. She faced early adversity as the fight started, but managed to work her way back into the fight and even rocked her opponent towards the end of the first.
Returning to her home country of Sweden Sundell spoke to Käftmsällspodden, the number one combat sports podcast in Northern Europe, and opened up about the fight as well as all its highs and lows.
“I went in too quickly in the first round, Sundell tells Käftsmällspodden. I remember that it was really sloppy and that she hit me to the body three times and I lost my breath all three times. And I thought like ‘oh, that would have put some people down’ but then I thought ‘No, but I can’t go down.’ I’ve trained so hard for this. The second round was a little better and in the third it felt like I got into the fight. It was like the last fight, I woke up in the third round. And the knockdown in the first round caused me to get back into it like ‘OK, I know I can win this.'”
Sundell has spent the past few years in Pattaya, Thailand, training with many of the best Muay Thai fighters in the world at Fairtex Training Center. The gym has produced top fighters such as the superstar Stamp Fairtex and Sundell’s ceiling is undoubtedly high.
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The contrast between Sundells shy, unassuming yet joyous personality and the viciousness of her striking inside the cage is something to behold. A flip certainly gets switched while she is competing, turning her from a normal teenager into one of the best of the world in her division.
“I think it’s just like when the referee tells you to go then it’s like ‘Oh, lets wake up!’ I think… I just like punching people, I think that’s it. I’ve probably got a lot of pent up aggression in me that I don’t show outward and I guess I bring that to training and to fighting specifically.”
Lightening the mood, Sundell was asked about what she was looking forward to eating now that she was back in Sweden and she had quite the list of goodies she’s looking forward to.
“This time I want kebab, a kebab plate! And hot dogs in buns and pyttipanna (a traditional Swedish dish) and Marabou chocolate!”
Based on the body fo her work Sundell has definitely earned some time off to chow down on whatever she wants, before returning for her next fight in ONE Championship.
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