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Almost a month after her career-defining victory at ONE Fight Night 14, where she was crowned as the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion, Danielle Kelly still feels like she is dreaming.
The 27-year-old American avenged her previous defeat at the hands of rival Jessa Khan with a masterful performance that gifted her a unanimous decision nod from the judges. She is still in the honeymoon phase of her crowning glory and openly talked about it in her recent interview on the Chewjitsu Podcast.
Kelly shared that he now holds a bigger responsibility as a world champion, and because of this, she wants to continue sharpening her grappling skills. Additionally, she is grateful for the people who helped her achieve this status.
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The Silver Fox BJJ athlete said:
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“It was a good feeling. I felt emotional but going forward now I feel like, all right, like this is my job. I felt like I knew I was going to get it just because I put a lot of hard work into that, even in my last matches. And I've teamed up with really good people now so it's still a special feeling like I'm there, and there’s always more room for improvement.”
Kelly’s world title triumph was her third victory in the ONE Championship, and she was able to fully utilize her prior experience competing under the brightest lights of the world’s largest martial arts organization against the debuting Khan.
Despite the Cambodian-American’s stacked accolades of winning multiple gold medals in various tournaments, such as the 2022 IBJFF Pan American Championships, the 2023 IBJFF World Championships, and the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, Kelly was still able to beat her in their second meeting. Currently, Kelly will be waiting for a word from the promotion on who she should face next and defend her golden belt for the first time.
The replay of ONE Fight Night 14 is available anytime on demand for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America.
