Jessa Khan admits making costly mistakes in world title loss to Danielle Kelly: “My fault for not capitalizing”

It wasn’t the debut that Jessa Khan expected, and she knows it.

Khan failed in her bid to become the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion when she lost to rival Danielle Kelly via unanimous decision at ONE Fight Night 14 at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

It was a close matchup with both fighters trying to establish control throughout the 10-minute contest. Khan even secured Kelly’s back, but she got locked in a tight toehold that the referee called a catch for Kelly midway through the bout.

Following her disappointing loss, Khan took to Instagram to air her sentiments about her ONE Championship debut.

The IBJJF world champion admitted that there were a couple of instances where she almost had Kelly only for her to lose control and fall short in locking in that all-important catch.

Khan wrote:

“Very grateful to get the opportunity to be a part of a great card, especially headlining four women's fights of many different martial arts. Thank you @onechampionship @yodchatri for providing a platform for us! Congratulations to everyone for their performances. I’ll be back! 🙏🏽”

Khan is now tied at 1-1 in her head-to-head matchups with Kelly. Their first meeting was in 2021, with Khan taking a decision win at the Who’s Number One banner.

It took almost two years for these rivals to get at each other, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time.

Khan was coming off a gold medal win in the 2023 IBJJF world championships while Kelly was undefeated at ONE Championship.

There’s no official word yet of Kelly’s first world title defense, but it wouldn’t be an outlandish idea to see her defend the gold against Khan on another Amazon card.

The rivalry between Khan and Kelly is already one of the most intriguing feuds in ONE Championship, and there’s no better way to end this feud than a decisive third meeting.