Danielle Kelly talks about the reality of flying thousands of miles to compete in Asia

Aside from the elite level competition that she faces inside the circle, Danielle Kelly faces adversity before she even arrives at fight night, and that’s just the flight.

Having competed in the United States for the majority of her career, the 27-year old made the decision to sign for ONE Championship and join the promotion’s roster of elite submission grapplers.

With the platform that ONE has put the sport on, it gives Kelly a new opportunity to really lead the way for female competitors and break new ground for them to follow.

But one issue that comes with competing far away from home is the journey she must undertake to get to the contest. Whilst she is excited to compete in Bangkok on February 24 at ONE Fight Night 7, leaving her loved ones behind and embarking on such a long trip has its physical and emotional setbacks.

In an interview with Game Breakers, Danielle Kelly said:

“I’m excited but I’m also just traveling really far, being away from friends and family you know kind of gets me a little bit. But I’m excited to kind of compete in a new place because I’ve always been in the U.S. But I have this opportunity, I’m grateful to get to travel to different places and meet new people. But yeah, I mean it’s 20 hours and I’m having neck and back pain on the plane so that comes with the territory.”

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“We're figuring out her game” - Danielle Kelly reveals her preparations ahead of Ayaka Miura match

At ONE Fight Night 7, Danielle Kelly will step inside the circle for a third time to face Japanese Judo specialist Ayaka Miura.

With Miura’s MMA experience, she presents another unique challenge for Kelly, who has so far proven that she can adapt to all kinds of opponents.

With a win, Danielle Kelly could find herself knocking at the door of a vacant world championship opportunity should a belt be created. With that much emphasis on this upcoming contest, she has been diving deep on her opponent’s skillset.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the 27-year old spoke about breaking down the footage on her opponent and analyzing what she needs to work on before she faces Miura:

"So Jay, my other coaches, and I watched a few of her matches. I've been working on my wrestling. I'm trying to get back to that because I used to wrestle a lot. I don't want to be just a guard puller. So if I go against her. I think it'd be a fun match. Because I know she's a judo black belt I think she does a lot of takedowns or MMA fights. So yeah, we're figuring out her game."

On top of facing an opponent with a totally different skillset to her previous opponents, February 24 also brings a new stage for Kelly to compete on.

ONE Fight Night 7 is scheduled to take place at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, and the cage that she has become accustomed to competing in will be replaced by a ring.

It’s an added element to the contest that Danielle Kelly will need to adapt to on the night in order to rack up another win under the ONE Championship banner.

Fans in North America can watch all the action from the event live and for free via Prime Video in U.S. primetime on February 24.