Iman Barlow, a prominent figure in ONE Championship, has announced her retirement, citing a lack of fight opportunities as the primary reason. Despite this claim, it was reported that she was offered a title fight against teenage world champ Smilla Sundell, the current ONE Women's Strawweight Muay Thai Champion, last September in Singapore. Sundell, on her part, has stated that she was offered Barlow as an opponent multiple times but Barlow declined every offer, not being booked by ONE Championship in over a year. Sundell even claimed to have signed to fight Barlow three times, only for Barlow to turn down each opportunity.
Smilla Sundell says she signed to fight Iman Barlow three times but the Brit turned her down... #onechampionship https://t.co/VkY5H8WQdO
Smilla Sundell, the current ONE Women's Strawweight Muay Thai Champion, says she was offered Iman Barlow multiple times but Iman declined every single time. Iman Barlow has recently retired due to not being booked by ONE Championship in over a year. (📸: Smilla’s Instagram) https://t.co/bTJaQFYFNk
Iman Barlow puts her retirement down to a lack of fight opportunities in ONE. As far as I’m aware she was offered a Smilla Sundell title fight last Sept. in Singapore. Shame we don’t get to see that one. Was looking forward to it. #ONEChampionship https://t.co/6hud3iYEAA
🏆 Will teenage world champ Smilla Sundell retain her ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai throne at ONE Fight Night 22? #MuayThai #ONEFightNight22 #ONEChampionship https://t.co/pmnFUBUcS5
Iman Barlow has announced her retirement. #ONEChampionship https://t.co/MdloB99nsl