Danielle Kelly made her ONE debut at ONE X against Mei Yamaguchi in a submission-only grappling match. Though the bout was well-contested at a high pace, with Kelly hunting for submissions constantly, it ultimately went the distance and ended in a draw.
However, at the end of the exciting grappling contest, Kelly was awarded a sweet $50K performance bonus.
An ecstatic Kelly was interviewed backstage about her plans on how to spend her performance bonus. The talented grappling phenom had a slightly surprising reply, but it was not entirely out of character:
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"I'm gonna get a new PC and I'm gonna get something for the dogs. They're waiting for me at home."
The jiu-jitsu black belt and social media darling is also an avid gamer and it shows. Her priorities when it comes to spending her hard-earned bonus make her a bonafide gamer.
However, we could hazard a guess that a brand new gaming PC won't even be a fifth of her bonus. Perhaps the rest of it will go to her dogs.
Danielle Kelly on her ONE X performance bonus: "I was not expecting that"
Despite earning ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong's admiration and a $50K bonus, Kelly didn't think she met the criteria to be bonus-worthy. In a post-fight interview with Sportskeeda MMA at ONE X, Kelly had this to say:
"I'm doing jiu-jitsu for now so I was not expecting that! Usually that's expected in MMA for an amazing performance. No, I was not expecting that. I was just expecting to come here and do my thing and have fun with it."
Making her assessment of her ONE X performance, Kelly said:
"When she was putting me up against the cage, she was trying to prevent me from making space, when you're in closed guard. She kept my head position in the cage so I wouldn't move my hips, got the position the first time, got the armbar, was cranking it, I'm surprised she didn't tap to that. When I saw her and Angela's match, she just didn't want to tap to armbar, I was like, 'Alright.' She had really good posture, was really strong. [I] need to work on my finishing mechanics."
Kelly's very transparent and honest look at her performance shows her humility and strong mindset towards competition. She has technical analysis of her flaws and knows very well what she needs to improve on.
Here's to hoping we'll see more of her finishing mechanics in the circle soon.