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Danielle Kelly is thankful for the opportunity to compete at the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.
Kelly made her debut at the iconic venue during ONE Championship’s spectacular ONE Fight Night 7 event last weekend. Squaring off with mixed martial artist and Judo black belt Ayaka Miura, Kelly scored another big win, though it did not come without some early adversity against her bigger opponent.
In the end, Kelly scored a unanimous decision win, remaining undefeated since joining ONE Championship in early 2022. Following her win, Kelly shared her appreciation for the opportunity to compete at one of the most famous stadiums in the world during a post-fight interview:
“It was a pretty great experience. This is my first time here in Thailand and my first time competing in a ring, especially for jiu-jitsu. Yeah, it was really new. I wanted the experience, it felt really old school. I'm really grateful to compete in [a venue that is] so historic and really popular and get to showcase jiu-jitsu and being in the first women's jiu-jitsu match.”
As for what comes next, Danielle Kelly hopes she can return to the atomweight division for a long-awaited rematch with Jessa Khan. The pair had previously met prior to signing with ONE Championship. Kelly would love the chance to run it back with Khan, preferably with a ONE world title on the line.
Danielle Kelly hopes to become the face of women’s BJJ
Ever since she signed with ONE Championship last year, Danielle Kelly has been striving for excellence. Aside from a desire to be the promotion’s first female submission grappling world champion, Kelly aims to be the face of women’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu:
"Just being that person, like that face,’ Kelly told the South China Morning Post. “I feel like I have, I would say it's pressure, I talked about pressure in another interview but I would say I have a lot of goals that I want to settle. Obviously, I want to push it more. I want to be that girl, like the face of women's jiu-jitsu for like the smaller girls."
Kelly also recognizes that being a smaller athlete can make it easy for people to overlook her skill set, but the submission star is never one to shy away from squaring off against a bigger and potentially stronger opponent, as evidenced by her submission showcase against Ayaka Miura at ONE Fight Night 7.
