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Danielle Kelly faced the toughest test of her ONE Championship career so far at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video.
Chalking up her first 2023 appearance in the circle, Kelly was tasked with taking on the bigger and arguably physically stronger judo black belt Ayaka Miura. The pair delivered a highly entertaining bout that came down to the wire. In the end, Kelly escaped with a unanimous decision victory thanks to nearly locking in a rear-naked choke as time ran out.
Speaking at the ONE Fight Night 7 post-fight press event, Kelly was complimentary of Miura, saying:
“Every time she gets to that position, she's trained it like a hundred times, so she was able to just get there and keep staying at her base. She's really good at what she does, but I kept countering and attacking her. So, yeah, the decision was the decision.”
The Silver Fox BJJ product moved to two wins inside the circle with one draw which came in her promotional debut against Mei Yamaguchi. Asked who she would like next, Danielle Kelly lobbied for a rematch with Cambodian competitor Jessa Khan. The pair previously met in early 2021.
Should they book their long-awaited rematch inside the circle for later this year, Danielle Kelly hopes it will be for a ONE submission grappling world championship.
Danielle Kelly is thrilled to get the win over a significantly bigger opponent
While Danielle Kelly prefers to fight women in her native atomweight class, she has never been one to shy away from the challenge of facing grapplers that are significantly bigger. That was the case at ONE Fight Night 7 when Kelly met Ayaka Miura, a mixed martial artist who typically competes in the strawweight division.
Contracted as a catchweight bout, Kelly still went into the contest with a fairly sizable disadvantage but managed to come out on top regardless:
"I'm proud of it. I'm literally 10-15 pounds lighter than her. I agreed to fight at catchweight with her, and she's really good, really strong."
Some fans believe that Ayaka Miura did enough in the first half of the matchup, regularly threatening Kelly with a scarf hold. Kelly believes that her ability to escape and end up in a dominant position during the final minutes of the matchup earned her a rightful victory on the judge's scorecard:
"Got the win tonight! Against a skilled opponent. I really had to dig through this one. Many people can say what they want but anytime I was in a bad spot, I escaped and attacked."
