Danielle Kelly looking to stay busy in 2023 with multiple fights

It’s a new year and American grappler Danielle Kelly hopes to stay busy in 2023 with multiple fights in ONE Championship.

Last year, sports fans across the globe witnessed the return of submission grappling matches at ONE Championship sporting events. It also saw the first-ever women’s submission grappling match, featuring Danielle Kelly and Mei Yamaguchi.

With the introduction of a new division, Kelly subsequently participated in two grappling matches last year. They were both certainly huge milestones in her career and Kelly hopes to make a bigger impact in 2023.

Speaking to ONE, the 27-year-old star revealed the ideal number of fights she’d like to have this year:

“Realistically like four or five, if I’m lucky. I would like to say four, just to stay active. I used to compete almost every month or every weekend, almost, you know, coming up as a purple, brown belt, a black belt competitor. But yeah, especially at this stage, to really study people, I need time. I need to study a lot, so I would like to say, realistically maybe four times.”

Kelly’s first submission grappling match in the promotion took place on March 26 at ONE X, ONE Championship’s 10th-year anniversary showcase.

As her first test of the year, she faced Japanese mixed martial artist and jiu-jitsu black belt Mei Yamaguchi. While the match resulted in a draw, Kelly won a performance bonus of US$50,000 for her efforts.

She went on to earn her second bonus following a rear-naked choke over multi-time sambo gold medalist Mariia Molchanova on November 18.

---

Danielle Kelly putting in the work for her next grappling match at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video

Getting her wish early this year, Danielle Kelly is currently studying and training for her third submission grappling match in the circle against Japanese judoka Ayaka Miura.

The pair are set to collide on Friday, February 10, at ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video. The event will be broadcast live and for free to all Amazon subscribers across North America.

Anticipating a difficult battle against another MMA-based fighter, Kelly has been putting in the reps and attacking drills with her teammates at Silver Fox BJJ.

She recently took to Instagram with a red face after a tough grappling session with the following caption:

“This is how my face will be everyday up til my match; beat up. 🇹🇭🇺🇸 @onechampionship”

Check out the clip below: