Smilla Sundell Rips Through Allycia Hellen Rodrigues, Retains ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Title
ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Smilla “The Hurricane” Sundell walked into the Singapore Indoor Stadium with 26 pounds of gold over her shoulder and the type of expectations that are too heavy for 18-year-old athletes to carry.
But the Swedish sensation has proven time and time again that she’s no ordinary teenager, and she did it once more this past Friday, September 29.
Sundell absorbed ONE Women’s Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues’ best shots and finished off the Brazilian in the waning seconds of the third round to retain her golden belt in the ONE Fight Night 14 co-main event, which aired live in U.S. primetime.
Though she’s known as “The Hurricane,” it was Sundell who actually had to weather an early storm from Rodrigues. The atomweight queen repeatedly hurt the Swedish teen star with her left hook and body shots.
Sundell, however, gamely engaged with her South American rival and even connected with a beautiful left hook near the end of the opening stanza, which turned the tide of the fight.
With her confidence growing, “The Hurricane” turned up the pressure once the second frame began. That paid dividends, as a beautiful straight rocked Rodrigues and pushed her to the Circle Wall.
The Brazilian tried to answer back with body shots and elbows, and she even attempted to bring the fight into the clinch. But the teenager was simply too big and too dominant in that position, as she landed some clean elbows that took its toll.
Sundell looked to utilize her long jab in the beginning of the third round, but the atomweight queen returned to the clinch with the hope of finding some holes to exploit. But again, the Swede continued to bully her with knees and elbows seemingly at will.
Eventually, it became too much for Rodrigues. Once they separated, “The Hurricane” overwhelmed her exhausted foe with an onslaught of punches, elbows, and knees to force Kitsada Phontue to stop the fight with two seconds left to spare in the third round.
That TKO victory marked Sundell’s first ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Title defense and improved her record to 35-5.
