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Following her technical decision draw with Mei Yamaguchi on her ONE Championship debut in March 2022 at ONE X, Danielle Kelly has redeemed herself with an incredibly swift submission victory against Mariia Molchanova in November 2022 at ONE on Prime Video 4.
Her quick work on Molchanova was shared by ONE Championship on Instagram recently, and they captioned the post with:
“Explosive showdown 🔥 Who should challenge Danielle Kelly for the ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title? 👀 @daniellekellybjj”
The Silver Fox BJJ representative immediately went for offense when the match started and grabbed the 35-year-old Russian to the half-guard position, where she ended up at the bottom.
Kelly then slowly and surely took Molchanova’s back with her by leveraging and sliding her body to the side. From that point, the 28-year-old American wheeled her way into a rear-naked choke submission.
The Staya Team representative tried to explode and scramble out of the position, but Kelly already locked in a tight triangle on her body that maintained the position. Eventually, Molchanova was able to stand on her feet, but that only made the choke deeper and eventually made her tap.
Danielle Kelly still on Cloud 9 after her world title victory and believes Jessa Khan needs to earn a title rematch
Two fights after her victory against Molchanova, Kelly was pitted against former tormentor Jessa Khan for the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world title in September 2023 at ONE Fight Night 14.
She exacted revenge by beating the Art of Jiu-Jitsu Academy representative via unanimous decision to make history and become the first women’s grappling world champion in the world’s largest martial arts organization.
Months after her victory, she is still on Cloud 9 because her ultimate dream had been realized. Kelly also believes that Khan should earn her way back into a championship rematch because of how she dominated her in their latest matchup.
