"Most women are usually stronger than me" – Danielle Kelly feels technique will help her overcome Mei Yamaguchi's power 

Danielle Kelly’s skill set and technical abilities have allowed her to overcome several intimidating tests on the mats. At ONE X this Saturday, March 26, she hopes these two tools will power her to a significant debut win over Mei Yamaguchi in the Circle.

The 26-year-old American has been part of numerous scrambles on the canvas against far more powerful and experienced opponents, but her diligence in recognizing and predicting a rival's next move is something that has allowed her to enjoy a successful submission grappling career so far.

Before she steps onto ONE's global stage for the first time, Danielle Kelly shared why she believes skill will always beat power – especially in submission grappling contests.

“I feel like most women are usually stronger than me. But, you know, I feel like I've been working on my strength training a little bit. Jiu-jitsu is not always about who's stronger. I mean, it helps. But also, the technique behind it, who has the better technique. It's two strong people with the same strength who can only go so far but who has better technique,” she told ONE.

The BJJ star views Yamaguchi as somewhat similar to her past rivals, but that doesn't mean the young star will play down her opponent's chances at victory.

If anything, Danielle Kelly admits that she is looking forward to testing herself in deep waters against the 39-year-old Japanese veteran.

“Her skills, I see that she has tried to go for a submission. She has submitted a lot of girls in her division and goes through submission and takedowns. Yeah, I'm not going to take anyone easy because she's more so of an MMA fighter, and she's a black belt. When I go in there, I'm going to treat her just like everyone else. She's a grappler as well, she's grappling with me, so it'd be really interesting to see what she exchanges with me,” she offered.

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Danielle Kelly hints at next assignment on the global stage after Mei Yamaguchi

Despite a successful career in submission-only contests, Danielle Kelly feels that she still has room to improve before she can deem herself an icon of the sport.

But one way she can fast-track herself towards that goal is to see how her grappling skills fare against fellow atomweight stars plying their trade within the ONE roster.

Danielle Kelly shared:

“Angela Lee is for sure on my list and Itsuki [Hirata] – she's a judo black belt, I believe. They're actually fighting on the card next week with me. It'd be really interesting to test my skills against them. And I was looking at Michelle Nicolini at one point. I don't know if she competes at atomweight too. But that'd be a really cool match as well.”