Danielle Kelly ready to take on Ayaka Miura’s unique challenge

Danielle Kelly is excited about the unique challenge that she will face in her next opponent, Ayaka Miura.

The Japanese mixed martial artist known by fans as ‘Zombie’ will look to hand Kelly her first loss inside the Circle when the two meet for a submission grappling showdown on February 24 at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video. Ahead of her first walk to the Circle in 2023, Kelly discussed her thoughts on the matchup with The MMA Superfan:

“It is catchweight, and I’ve been kind of used to competing against bigger girls, which I stopped for a while. I’ve seen her fight, she’s really good. And I think taking this match also brings a lot of eyes to it.”

Miura will enter the bout with an impressive MMA record of 11-4. Debuting for ONE Championship in 2019, ‘Zombie’ rattled off three straight victories over Laura Balin, Samara Santos, and Maira Mazar. All three victories came by way of submission.

Though her streak came to an end at the hands of perennial contender Tiffany Teo, Miura got back into the win column with another submission victory over Rayane Bastos:

“Obviously, she’s a very good judo black belt, all her finishes are pretty much the same thing,” Kelly said. “Going into this match, I think she’s training with [Masakazu] Imanari and even Mei Yamaguchi was training with her. But I did do a lot of fixups from that first match, so I’m curious to see what Ayaka has for me.”

Watch the interview below:

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Danielle Kelly has no problem taking on bigger opponents

Regularly competing at atomweight, Danielle Kelly has gotten into the groove of taking on opponents bigger than her. Thus far, it hasn’t posed a problem for the submission superstar. Kelly will once again face a bigger opponent in her next outing against Ayaka Miura, who typically competes in the strawweight division. The two women will meet in the middle, to some extent, for a catchweight clash.

Though she prefers facing women in her own weight class, this is not the first time Danielle Kelly has taken on a bigger opponent and likely won’t be the last considering her successful track record:

“As far as opponents, I mean I definitely have a few lined up. I’m also, I’ve also called out a few people so you know I’m really happy to whoever they give me. I think in the past because I won against bigger girls, I just prefer my weight class.”

Fans in North America can catch Danielle Kelly’s return to action live and for free on Amazon Prime Video.

Watch her highlight reel below: