“It’d be cool to have a match with her” - Danielle Kelly dreams of grappling match with ONE atomweight queen Angela Lee

Danielle Kelly may be a newcomer to ONE Championship, but that doesn’t stop her from fantasizing about a dream match against, arguably, the promotion’s most dominant champion, Angela Lee.

The American grappler dazzled fans with her debut performance at ONE X, battling mixed martial arts veteran Mei Yamaguchi to a draw in their submission grappling contest.

She’ll be looking to compete in more competitions like this in the future, and one fight she’d love to have is against ONE women’s atomweight world champion Angela Lee.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Kelly said that the top athletes in the atomweight division are intriguing matchups for her. The names that immediately came to her included Itsuki Hirata and Michelle Nicolini.

However, it’s ‘Unstoppable’ who would feature in her dream match.

Danielle Kelly said:

“She’s [Hirata] a judo black belt so I’m not really sure what’s her grappling background, but just from her MMA fights [I saw that] she’s had really good submissions. I also saw Angela Lee pull off a good twister attempt - I’ve been working on those, I love those. So it’d be cool to have a match with her. She’s been fighting and grappling for a while and she’s a black belt as well,” said Kelly.

“I see a lot of people tagging me and Michelle Nicolini, if she makes 115 pounds [the atomweight limit], I would love to get her. She’s a superstar as well in the grappling world and a veteran. There’s a few other black belts but I can’t really pronounce their names, but those are the few that come on the top of my head.”

Kelly made a strong impression in her debut at ONE X last weekend against Yamaguchi. While she didn’t get the win, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenom was seen as the more active of the two fighters and her aggression earned her a $50,000 bonus from ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Watch the full interview below:

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Danielle Kelly plans to jump into MMA later in 2022

The 25-year-old Jiu-Jitsu phenom has already made a reputation for herself in the world of grappling after securing the fastest submission in Who’s Number One when she submitted Jessica Crane via knee bar in three minutes.

In making her debut at the 10-year anniversary extravaganza ONE X, Danielle Kelly enhanced her reputation by representing the grappling world in front of a global audience with ONE Championship’s massive reach. Now, the submission specialist is getting excited to step out of her comfort zone and jump into MMA by the end of 2022.

“I plan to just train and drill everyday in MMA. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I have something and hopefully my coaches from here can come with me because that’s a big thing for them to be on my side,” said Danielle Kelly.

Kelly added that she would like to fight someone with the same level of experience as her when she eventually goes the MMA route.

“I would like to have someone on my experience level. I train with the girls in big fight leagues right now and I get my butt kicked. I’m not putting myself on a pedestal that far yet but the fact that I can hang with those kinds of girls gives me a lot of confidence.”