“I knew I was gonna beat her” – Danielle Kelly says there was never any doubt about her avenging loss to Jessa Khan

Leading up to her historic ONE atomweight submission grappling world title match at ONE Fight Night 14 on September 29, Danielle Kelly was confident that she had the capability of beating Jessa Khan in their second meeting.

Kelly received a decision loss to Khan in their first meeting in February 2021, but has since improved her craft and took her talents to the world’s largest martial arts organization in 2022, winning two of her three matches.

When the Silver Fox BJJ representative finally got her second opportunity against the Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy athlete, she was able to maximize it by dealing Khan a unanimous decision defeat to capture the inaugural title in the women’s submission grappling division inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

After the career-defining victory, the 27-year-old American looked back at her mindset and preparation for that fight and shared that she always believed that a victory over her Cambodian-American rival was inevitable.

Kelly shared this in her interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer:

“I knew I was gonna beat her. I knew I had a good chance. Not in a cocky way. I was aggressive. I don’t think she was at my level.”

The now-atomweight submission grappling world champion used her three-fight experience against the 2022 IBJJF Pan American Championships and 2023 IBJJF World Championships gold medalist.

Included in those three fights were Kelly’s victories over Mariia Molchanova (submission in November 2022) and Ayaka Miura (unanimous decision in February 2023). Kelly is also not keen on facing Khan in a trilogy fight because of how well she dominated their rematch and thinks that Khan should work her way back to the title picture.

Fans in North America can watch the ONE Fight Night 14 replay on demand via Amazon Prime Video.