Danielle Kelly talks ONE Championship debut and earning a $50,000 performance bonus
Danielle Kelly will be the first to admit that she’s not a fan of being in the spotlight and while she may not like it, the spotlight seems to gravitate towards her.
When it was announced that the grappling star would sign with ONE Championship, the news buzzed all around the MMA world. As the news came out, media outlet after media outlet lined up their request to have word with her.
After getting through tons of media, Kelly was left doing what she does best. Competing in a grappling match.
On March 26, Kelly made her ONE debut at ONE X against Mei Yamaguchi and for Kelly her debut was a bit different than her previous grappling matches.
For starters the match was in a held in a huge venue with tons of fans, which is new to Kelly. Then on top of that, the match was inside of a cage as opposed to a mat like she is used to competing on. Due to being in some unfamiliar territory, Kelly felt a little tense at the begging of her match and it took some time to settle in.
Once Kelly was dialed in, she competed hard and was attacking throughout the matchup looking for submissions, but Yamaguchi hung tough and never tapped.
Eventually the match ended in a draw and while Kelly didn’t get a win next to her name, her constant work in the matchup did enough to earn her a 50 thousand dollar bonus.
Following the match, Kelly spoke with MyMMANews to discuss the match, her experience of competing in the ONE promotion and what’s next for her. You can watch that interview in the video above.
A full list of results from ONE X are listed below:
Angela Lee def. Stamp Fairtex via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:50
Demetrious Johnson def. Rodtang Jitmuangnon via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:13 – special mixed-rules fight
Adriano Moraes def. Yuya Wakamatsu via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 3:58
Yoshihiro Akiyama def. Shinya Aoki via TKO – Round 2, 1:50
Eduard Folayang def. John Wayne Parr via unanimous decision – muay Thai bout
Superbon Singha Mawynn def. Marat Grigorian via unanimous decision – featherweight
kickboxing title fight
Nong-O Gaiyanghadao def. Felipe Lobo via KO – Round 3, 2:15 – bantamweight muay Thai title fight
Hiroki Akimoto def. Capitan Petchyindee via unanimous decision – bantamweight kickboxing title fight
Ham Seo Hee def. Denice Zamboanga via unanimous decision
Jihin Radzuan def. Itsuki Hirata via split decision
Tang Kai def. Kim Jae Woong via KO – Round 1, 2:07
Chingiz Allazov def. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong via unanimous decision – featherweight kickboxing grand prix final
Reinier de Ridder vs. Andre Galvao ends in a draw – submission grappling | Highlights
Sinsamut Klinmee def. Nieky Holzken via KO – Round 2, 1:39 – muay Thai bout
Jeremy Miado def. Lito Adiwang via TKO (injury) – Round 2, 2:56
Stephen Loman vs. Shoko Sato via unanimous decision
Amir Khan def. Ryogo Takahashi via split decision
Kang Ji Won def. Paul Elliott via KO – Round 1, 0:58
Mei Yamaguchi vs. Danielle Kelly ends in a draw – submission grappling
Senzo Ikeda def. Ryuto Sawada via TKO – Round 2, 3:09
