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Danielle Kelly arrived in ONE Championship with a lot of hype.
Joining ONE as the promotion continued its expansion into submission grappling, Kelly quickly became one of the rising stars that would help make ONE a home for the best grapplers on the planet.
Her debut inside the circle came at ONE X, the promotion’s huge 10th anniversary show, which was stacked with huge fights and world title contests. The 27-year old faced veteran Mei Yamaguchi in a match that went to a draw.
Disappointed that she was unable to get a submission victory first time out, Kelly has since reflected on her performance in an interview with ONE, stating that her preparation and nerves definitely impacted the contest:
“So having a month to prepare like right now, with my last match I did an eight to nine-week training camp for that last fight. But for the Mei [Yamaguchi] match it was almost less than a month so it was a little different, I was definitely nervous but yeah I think it was an overall good experience.”
Kelly got the submission victory that she had been looking for in her second appearance under the ONE banner. At ONE on Prime Video 4, the American submitted Mariia Molchanova in just over two minutes with a slick rear-naked choke.
Danielle Kelly reveals she did extensive simulation work preparing for Mariia Molchanova
Submission grappling superstar Danielle Kelly is a testament to the old jiu-jitsu mentality that drillers make killers.
As Kelly looked to compete inside the circle for the second time, she went back to basics for her training camp. Facing sambo specialist Mariia Molchanova, she was hunting for her first submission win under the ONE Championship banner.
Putting the emphasis on making slight changes to her fundamentals instead of learning a whole new technique, Kelly put time into her closed guard, which couldn’t be more of a routine position.
In the contest, all of the work she had put in drilling this position paid dividends as she produced an incredible back take from her guard to set up the submission. Kelly told ONE Championship:
“From certain positions, like my goal was to take her back. I just didn’t think it was gonna be from close guard when I took her back. We worked a lot of sequences whether it was like arm drags or just working sequences to take her back.”
Understanding her opponent’s sambo background, Danielle Kelly was happy to pull guard after she had drilled the position throughout her preparations.
Seamlessly transitioning to Molchanova’s back, it was only a matter of time before Kelly found a home for her various submission attempts, earning herself a first win inside the circle and a second straight $50,000 performance bonus.
Relive Danielle Kelly’s highly technical handiwork below:
