Smilla Sundell Explains What Keeps Her Hungry for Wins Despite Being the Youngest World Champion in ONE

At just 19 years old, reigning ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Smilla “The Hurricane” Sundell is only getting started on her quest to becoming one of the greatest martial artists the planet has ever seen.

This Friday, in the main event of ONE Fight Night 22 on Prime Video, she will defend her gold against hard-hitting Russian Natalia “Karelian Lynx” Diachkova, live in U.S. primetime from the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

Smilla Sundell sets sights on dual world titles

Sundell has enjoyed an incredible run of dominance thus far in the world’s largest martial arts organization, taking out top contenders with relative ease. While she’s seemingly already reached the top of the mountain, she’s still motivated to achieve more. To that end, she’s targeting ONE World Titles in both kickboxing and MMA.

“The Hurricane” explained: “I think I just want to be the best version of myself and I want to have the kickboxing belt. I also want the MMA belt as well in the future. I’ve started training in MMA now, and I would like to have all the belts all at the same time.

She further added, “I would like to try for the kickboxing belt. And then maybe I can squeeze in a mixed-rules fight so I can try out MMA. I’ve done some guillotines already, so I’m definitely gonna try those.”

A war against Natalia Diachkova!

Sundell’s aspirations of three-sport glory are grand but not far-fetched. After all, one of her primary training partners at Fairtex Training Center is Thai megastar Stamp Fairtex – the first athlete to capture ONE World Titles in three different combat sports disciplines. Before she can think about kickboxing gold, a mixed-rules fight, or an MMA debut, she’ll first have to get past a dangerous knockout artist in Diachkova.

The Russian boasts three first-round knockouts across four victories in ONE Championship, cementing her status as the division’s most terrifying contender. Given Diachkova’s meteoric rise, “The Hurricane” isn’t about to take her lightly.

She says she’s expecting nothing less than a war on May 3: “Hopefully, [I can get] a finish, but it’s hard to say because I think Natalia can go all five rounds. It will be a tough fight. She’s also very tall, but I still have the reach, I think. And she’s got more experience in the small gloves than me so I can’t really say that.”