ONE strawweight Muay Thai contender Jackie Buntan had a special Mother’s Day treat for her mom this past weekend – one that not a lot of children could offer their parent. The American striking star is fresh off scoring her first knockout victory in ONE Championship at the Singapore-based promotion’s debut show on U.S. soil, ONE Fight Night 10, on May 5, and she wanted to celebrate with her mother in style.
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A week after her devastating first-round knockout of Aussie star Diandra Martin a the historic event, Buntan was invited to watch her hometown team Los Angeles Galaxy play Major League Soccer at Dignity Health Sports. She decided to take her mom along with her and had a special surprise in the store.
Jackie Buntan’s mother saw her success in her daughter’s success
“My mom was excited to go,” the 25-year-old said. “I don’t think she fully understood what I was doing. I think she just assumed it was a free ticket, so why not? But once we got there, I had to check in with the LA Galaxy media and go down and go in front of the camera. They told me, ‘You’ll be on the Jumbotron,’ and all this.”
Buntan got a lot of attention from fans and reporters once they got to the stadium, which was nothing new for her, as she regularly deals with it during fight week. However, it was a pleasant surprise for her mother to see her daughter receive such fanfare away from the usual channels.
“I think my mom was just taking it all in and super stoked and recording me the whole time,” she said. “That’s what moms do. She’s very proud of me. My success is her success. And the fact that we’re able to do something like this outside of Muay Thai, I think that made her even more proud that I could branch off and do certain things outside of the sport.”
Jackie Buntan will look to repeat her California Classico experience
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LA Galaxy draws an average of 21,000 fans to their home stadium and possibly attracted more in this particular game as it was against their bitter rivals, the San Jose Earthquakes. The game, dubbed as “The California Classico”, was won by the Galaxy 2-1 to the delight of the crowd and both Buntans, who left the spectacle as bona fide fans.
“This was a completely new experience for me. We all enjoyed ourselves. It was a fun night. It was a pretty big crowd, so the energy was great. But yeah, new experience and definitely not the last. I’d love to go to another game.”
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