Danielle Kelly reveals working with Jay Regalbuto in camp for Mariia Molchanova

ONE women’s submission grappling superstar Danielle Kelly knew she had to bring out the big guns in preparation for her match against the dangerous Mariia Molchanova at ONE on Prime Video 4 last November.

Apart from honing her skills with her coaches at Silver Fox BJJ, the 27-year-old sought outside help by working with another New Jersey-based jiu-jitsu wizard who got her ready to go against her sambo-specialist opponent.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Kelly shared how she picked the brain of Jay Regalbuto, who’s another beloved fixture in the BJJ community. Regalbuto is a black belt under Steve Bongiorno at South Jersey Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a Ricardo Almeida-affiliated academy in South Berlin, New Jersey.

Kelly shared:

“I worked on them with Jay Regalbuto, he couldn’t come with me, but basically that whole week we just worked on different scenarios, well a lot of scenarios because we knew that she was gonna come forward towards me. The plan pretty much worked well.”

It looks like the time Danielle Kelly spent with Regalbuto was worth every second.

The American grappling phenom, after all, fought like she had an ace up her sleeve and did not allow Molchanova to impose her own game plan. Kelly knew what she wanted to do from the get-go and worked towards taking the Russian’s back.

Molchanova, after all, is known for her strength and leg locks. Kelly wanted to neutralize that by putting her on the defensive throughout the match.

It was the beginning of the end for Molchanova once she got trapped in Kelly’s full guard. The grappling savant easily escaped from the back and ended the fight in spectacular fashion with a rear-naked choke.

Relive Danielle Kelly’s wild finish below:

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Danielle Kelly worked on back-take simulations in camp for Molchanova

One of the biggest takeaways Kelly learned from Regalbuto was how to fine-tune her closed guard.

While Kelly admitted that it wasn’t her initial plan going into the fight, the Silver Fox BJJ standout said she took Molchanova’s back as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

She told ONE:

“From certain positions, like, my goal was to take her back. I just didn’t think it was gonna be from close guard when I took her back. We worked a lot of sequences, whether it was like, arm drags or just working sequences to take her back.”

Danielle Kelly no doubt still has a lot of dazzling techniques to showcase for ONE fans this coming year.

It won’t be long until she graces the circle once more, as she will be locking horns with Ayaka Miura at ONE Fight Night 7 on Amazon Prime on February 10.