“I really wanted a Twister” - Danielle Kelly says Mariia Molchanova’s strength was no joke

At ONE on Prime Video 4, Danielle Kelly picked up her first submission win inside the circle. The grappling prodigy came into the contest hunting for the tap after her debut with ONE Championship ended in a draw.

With a rear-naked choke in just over two minutes, Kelly put on a dominant performance over sambo expert Mariia Molchanova.

Kelly winning the contest was only a matter of time once she climbed up her opponent like a backpack and started looking to lock up the choke.

In her post-fight interview with SCMP MMA, Danielle Kelly spoke about how she prepared for the contest and whether she expected to find the finish so fast:

“Yes and no. I knew she was gonna be really strong. But me and my coaches back home, even during fight week here, we were drilling a lot of back sequences. I really wanted a Twister, but she was pulling my arm really, really strong. But yeah, I’ve been working on sliding that wrist through and squeezing. I wasn’t really expecting her to slam me. That was pretty eye-opening. But it was a good match.”

Watch the full interview below:

After securing her first win inside the circle, Kelly is well on her way to becoming a big star in ONE Championship and could follow the likes of Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci as world champions in the promotion.

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“It’s kind of like jiu-jitsu” - Danielle Kelly on getting more comfortable with her standup game for MMA

Submission grappler Danielle Kelly has been talking about transitioning to MMA at some point in her career for some time now. Whilst the 26-year-old can hang with anyone on the mats, she has been working on her striking behind closed doors.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Kelly spoke about how she has been getting comfortable with striking by sparring:

“But I kind of think [striking], it's like jiu-jitsu. Not really, but it's kind of like jiu-jitsu. Like, once you get in there, it's kind of like, a lot of sparring, you do a lot of rolling. And then for MMA, you do a lot more sparring, you get used to it, kind of.”

Kelly recently picked up her first win inside the circle, submitting Mariia Molchanova at ONE on Prime Video 4.

Kelly would be following in the footsteps of a long line of grapplers turned mixed martial artists. With the platform that ONE Championship has provided submission grappling in 2022, there has never been a bigger opportunity for Danielle Kelly to become a big star, potentially in multiple sports.