“You could just see her struggling” – Danielle Kelly says Jessa Khan lacked training inside the Circle

Newly crowned ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion Danielle Kelly believes her familiarity fighting under ONE Championship setting served her in good stead in her successful title conquest against Jessa Khan.

The 27-year-old Silver Fox BJJ standout claimed the inaugural atomweight grappling gold after defeating Khan via unanimous decision in their title clash at ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video on September 29 in Singapore.

Victory did not come easy for her as 21-year-old Khan did not go down without a fight. Kelly stayed the course and persisted throughout the 10-minute clash to convince the judges to give her the nod.

In an interview session with Chewjitsu Podcast, Danielle Kelly gave her take on what went down in her showdown against her American-Cambodian opponent, convinced that Khan was not able to train fully to compete in ONE’s Circle.

She said:

“It's just kind of really cool like how someone who’s like a really high-level or any high-level person their game kind of changes once you kind of add something and they can’t really use it. Like when she was stuck there on the Circle, you could just see her struggling.”

Check out the interview below:

At ONE Fight Night 14, Jessa Khan made her promotional debut. While high-stakes matches are no longer new to her, being an IBJJF world champion, it was, however, the first time she fought in a circlular cage.

Apart from becoming a world champion, the win also allowed Danielle Kelly to exact payback on Khan, who defeated her in their first encounter in a no-gi contest outside of ONE Championship in the United States in 2021.

Danielle Kelly remains unbeaten in four matches under ONE Championship and is now looking forward to defending her world title whenever possible.

The replay of ONE Fight Night 14 is available anytime on demand for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.