Ayaka Miura warns Danielle Kelly: “I’m a bit different from Mei Yamaguchi”

Japanese judo specialist Ayaka Miura has always been confident in her abilities and sees herself as a fighter to be reckoned with. This remains the frame of mind she has as she returns to action next week at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video in Bangkok.

'Zombie' will take on Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Danielle Kelly in a catchweight submission grappling showdown, part of the second main live show for the year of ONE Championship on February 24.

In the lead-up to the event, Kelly likened Miura to fellow Japanese Mei Yamaguchi, who she battled on her promotional debut last March which ended in a draw. During the pre-event interview for ONE Fight Night 7, Ayaka Miura warned Kelly not to think she had read her because it could be costly:

“Mei Yamaguchi is an MMA fighter, but she's also very good at jiu-jitsu. I think I'm a bit different from Mei Yamaguchi, but I also trained with Mei for this upcoming fight. And then I got some advice from her. But the style is different.”

Ayaka Miura is a former ONE women’s strawweight world title challenger who is hungry to get back in the win column. Her upcoming fight is her debut outing in submission grappling.

Kelly, for her part, is looking to make it back-to-back wins in ONE after chalking up her first victory last November over Russian Mariia Molchanova. ONE Fight Night 7 action will be aired live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.

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Ayaka Miura had no problems taking submission grappling match against dangerous Danielle Kelly

Submission grappling is traditionally not in the alley of Japanese martial artist Ayaka Miura, but she has no problems competing in it for she knows doing so will only help her grow as a fighter.

The judo specialist will dip her toes into submission grappling against Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Danielle Kelly in a catchweight showdown at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video on February 24 in Bangkok.

Ayaka Miura recognizes that she is in for a tough challenge fighting under submission grappling rules, but the true competitor in her believes that it will benefit her in the long run. In an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, 'Zombie' said:

“It’s simple - ONE Championship offered this match so I decided to accept. I wanted to stay active.”

Miura has spent the last four years fighting in mixed martial arts in ONE and vied for the women’s strawweight world title in January of last year. She is determined to pile up the wins anew to get right back into the world title hunt in mixed martial arts.