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Submission grappling ace Danielle Kelly chalked up her second straight victory in ONE Championship on February 24 but admitted she had to dig deep to pull off the win.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt was one of the winners at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video at the weekend in Bangkok. She defeated Japanese judoka Ayaka 'Zombie' Miura in their catchweight (119 lbs) submission grappling showdown by unanimous decision.
Victory did not come easy for Danielle Kelly, who was severely tested by Miura in the early goings of the contest. She was put in some tough positions from which she had to spend some time wiggling out from. A strong finish, however, that saw her go for multiple rear-naked choke attempts, did it for the Silver Fox BJJ affiliate.
In a video posted on Instagram, Danielle Kelly shared how she felt after the contest, which was in equal parts a feeling of relief and satisfaction. Part of her caption read:
“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. This was interesting as my head just kept getting caught in weird spots😀 stayed calm and really tried to finish her. Oh and giving up 15lbs 🤷🏻♀️ grateful for this opportunity to compete on a stadium like the Lumpinee.”
See the video post below:
The contest was historically the first women’s submission grappling match at the famed Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, which made the victory all the more significant for Danielle Kelly.
With the win, the American fighter now sports a two wins and one draw record since joining ONE last year. Kelly is now looking to pile up more victories and hopes to compete for an atomweight submission grappling world title in the very near future.
Danielle Kelly wise to Ayaka Miura’s unique grappling style
American fighter Danielle Kelly knew she was in for a tough competition in her most recent fight and came in prepared to great results.
The Silver Fox BJJ representative emerged triumphant in her catchweight (119 lbs) submission grappling contest against Japanese judoka Ayaka “Zombie” Miura at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video on February 24 in Bangkok. She won by way of a hard-earned unanimous decision.
Entering the match, Danielle Kelly recognized that her opponent’s judo background will weigh come fight night and that she had to prepare for it accordingly.
The 27-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt shared during the pre-fight interviews:
“Yeah, for sure. And from that position, she goes for a Kimura or a head and arm triangle choke. She does it pretty well, and the other girls can't stop it. But I feel like my defense is better, and I feel like I can scramble out a lot of stuff. So it'll be interesting, but I definitely don't want to be in a position to find out.”
At ONE Fight Night 7, Miura proved to be tough as billed, putting Danielle Kelly in some very tough positions. But the submission ace did well in finding ways to extricate herself from challenging situations and swung the tide in her favor, especially in the end, en route to the win.
The victory was the second straight for Kelly after her submission win over Russian Mariia Molchanova back in November. In her promotional debut in March last year, she settled for a draw against Japan's Mei Yamaguchi.
