Danielle Kelly silenced doubters with Jessa Khan victory: “I didn’t let the noise get to me”

Newly crowned ONE women’s atomweight submission grappling world champion Danielle Kelly didn’t just have to get past a stiff physical test against former adversary Jessa Khan at ONE Fight Night 14. The American superstar said she also had to thwart a throng of haters and doubters leading up to the contest.

Kelly battled Khan, a 2023 IBJJF world champion for the inaugural ONE women’s atomweight submission grappling world title at ONE Fight Night 14: Stamp vs. Ham on Prime Video. The event took place live from a packed Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore last September 30th.

Kelly defeated her Cambodian-American counterpart via unanimous decision after time expired, and once the decision was read and she was announced the winner, Kelly let out a sigh of relief. She had defeated a former tormentor, and silenced her critics in one evening.

The 27-year-old Silver Fox BJJ representative said:

“Emotions? I can’t really describe how I feel, when you worked so hard for something and there’s a lot of doubters and people saying you can’t do something, you know? I envisioned this and I put it out there today. I didn’t let the noise get to me, you know? This is what I do, this is my job and I proved that I was the best today, I proved that I was better than Jessa Khan.”

With the victory, Kelly became the first-ever female submission grappling world champion in ONE Championship, and joined Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci, who are titleholders on the men’s side.

Kelly expressed interest in facing Khan again in a rematch, but is also interested in potentially making a transition to mixed martial arts in the near future.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action of Kelly vs. Khan and the rest of the stacked ONE Fight Night 14 card via replay on Amazon Prime Video.