Danielle Kelly Compliments ONE's Female Grapplers, Addresses 'Face Of Division' Tag

Danielle Kelly has quickly established herself as a must-watch talent in the women's grappling division of ONE Championship, and she has some thoughts on her contemporaries within the promotion.

Answering some questions ahead of her submission grappling match with Japanese wizard Ayaka Miura at ONE Fight Night 7, Kelly gave a ton of love to names such as women's atomweight queen Angela Lee, Itsuki Hirata and even her upcoming opponent.

"I like Angela's jiu-jitsu. But you know, I really liked the [twister submission] there. I've always liked how she did that in her fights. Another girl is Itsuki Hirata, but I think I'm better at jiu-jitsu and my wrestling's better than hers. But she's also from around here. I think she's a judo girl too," Kelly mentioned.

"I watched her (Miura) fights recently. And she makes the same moves. I call her a mini-Ronda Rousey. I think it's pretty cool that she submits these girls with the same move."

Aside from being a dominant women's atomweight star, Lee pulled off the first-ever twister submission in ONE Championship's history against Natalie Gonzales Hills in November 2015 which created waves on social media at the time.

The mention of Hirata is certainly warranted as she has made a living out of giving her opponents a rough time on the ground thanks to her judo-based game, which has seen her pull off two victories by technical knockout and the same number via submissions.

Kelly, 27, pointing out Miura submitting her opponents with the same move—a scarf hold armbar—is certainly worth noting ahead of their bout simply because she has used it to win four times within ONE Championship, further proving that judo does deserve its place in mixed martial arts (MMA).

As for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based grappler herself, she has already amassed 18 wins throughout her grappling career, which features wins over the likes of Roxanne Modafferi and former UFC women's strawweight champ Carla Esparza.

Those landmark wins drew the attention of ONE Championship as the organization sought to fulfill its goal of being the undisputed home of combat sports by quickly bringing her on board in February 2022.

Her debut came against Japanese grappling icon Mei Yamaguchi the following month. Though it was ruled a draw, Kelly was awarded a $50,000 performance bonus due to her incredible showing against an established vet.

A rear-naked choke victory over Mariia Molchanova at ONE Fight Night 4 back in November had many claiming Kelly as the face of the division, but she is not entirely ready to accept the mantle just yet.

"Maybe, but I feel like I'm pretty small. So, I like to think I'm the face of the smaller women in jiu-jitsu. But you know, yeah, I think I'm heading that way, but I just got to keep my feet moving more and get more experienced and go against many girls. But yeah, it's a pretty good feeling," she mentioned.

ONE Fight Night 7 takes place this Saturday, February 25 (Friday, February 24 in the United States) at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, and the event is set to be headlined by the rematch between John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade for the vacant ONE bantamweight title.

Miura and Kelly's catchweight bout is slated to happen as the second bout of the main card following Andrei Stoica and Francesko Xhaja's light heavyweight kickboxing clash.

While she feels supremely confident about her own skills, the American has no plans to give Miura any window of opportunity to beat her.

"I'm pretty confident. I'm looking forward to putting on a really fun show or a quick show, depending on how I feel… I feel like my defense is better and I feel like I can scramble out a lot of stuff. So it'll be interesting, but I definitely don't want to be in a position to find out," Kelly stressed.