"Many people thought I beat her" - Danielle Kelly adamant she should've retained her strap against Mayssa Bastos

Danielle Kelly isn't one to complain about things from the past. That said, the former ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion is adamant that results should have favored her the last time out.

Kelly put her crown up for grabs against multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Mayssa Bastos at ONE Fight Night 24 this past August.

Despite putting in a valiant effort and holding her own on the canvas against the grappling icon, all three judges felt that her output was only second to Bastos'.

Kelly reflected on her defeat and explained why she remains puzzled by the result, telling ONE Championship:

"I know I can beat her. Many people thought I beat her, not just my fans, it's just the viewers that were watching the match."

Unfortunately, there is little Danielle Kelly can do to change events of the past.

But with proper training and tactics to fix her mistakes, the American submission grappling sensation fancies her chances of pulling one back against one of the best ever to do it.

The pair will go toe-to-toe in a high-stakes ONE atomweight submission grappling world title contest, which serves as the ONE Fight Night 26 co-main event on Friday, Dec. 6.

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Danielle Kelly confident she'd have tapped Mayssa Bastos with "a minute or two" extra on the clock

Danielle Kelly was up against Bastos' frantic pace in the earlier exchanges of their first encounter. But as the match wore on, the Philadelphia native started to fight her way against traffic until the final bell.

The Silver Fox BJJ athlete believes, with momentum on her side, she'd have drawn a tap from the multi-time BJJ world champion with added seconds on the clock.

“She’s definitely beatable and submittable. The last couple seconds [of the first match], if there was a minute or two more, she was gonna get submitted,” she told ONE Championship.