At ONE Fight Night 7 back in February, Danielle Kelly and Ayaka Miura put on an exciting and competitive submission grappling match at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The bout was a see-saw battle that saw Kelly rally late to win a hard-earned unanimous decision win.
ONE's submission grappling division is growing exponentially and the clash between Kelly and 'Zombie' was so far the most competitive one in the promotion. Both grapplers effectively put each other in grave danger as we saw near-submission after near-submission.
In most parts of the match, Miura came close to finishing her trademark "Ayaka Lock", single-handedly holding the breath of every member of the crowd.
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Even as a non-grappling specialist, Miura more than made a good account for herself. The Japanese MMA grappler had a one-catch advantage over Danielle Kelly for most of the bout until the American Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt went beast mode.
In the thrilling closing minute of the back-and-forth contest, Kelly savagely hunted a rear-naked choke on Miura. She recently posted it on Instagram:
"Mood. 🫡 When your coach tells you to not be nice, you listen lol. who wants to see me compete again??🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️"
Fans are going crazy over Kelly's insane ferocity. She really brought out the beast in her in order to open 'Zombie' up for the choke. Her courageous effort to rally back in the final minute earned her two catch-submission attempts that ultimately gave her the win. Talk about clutch.
Here are some of the fan comments:
@dluvly7 sees the value of having Danielle Kelly on any fight card:
"You're the main attraction, of course I'm pumped for your next match!🔥"
@brendan215 said what anyone in Ayaka Miura's position might be feeling:
"Scared to death or scared to look."
@warnertlee was all fan-boy mode:
"I like to watch you kick some more ass!!!! Keep it up!!! Biggest thing is to fun!!! Cheers to you!!!!"
@honeyjj_ gave a simple but accurate assessment of the match:
"Was such an exciting match. Can't wait to see your next one!"
At the moment, no official news has been released yet regarding Danielle Kelly's next bout. Whoever is put in front of her, however, we're sure she'll bring the beast once again.