“Can’t wait to compete” - Danielle Kelly looks back at her early years, hyped to defend her throne against Mayssa Bastos in Bangkok
Danielle Kelly is less than a fortnight away from her first world title defense, and she can barely hold her excitement heading into her career-defining matchup.
The reigning ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion will defend her throne against generational star Mayssa Bastos in the co-main event of ONE Fight Night 24 on August 2 at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
In an Instagram Story, Kelly reminisced on the first matches of her career after watching her friends and teammates compete in other organizations over the week.
Danielle Kelly wrote:
"Saw teammates and friends compete last week and brought out the archives. I can't wait to compete next weekend."
Kelly has been on a near-perfect run in her ONE Championship going 3-0-1 in her first four fights in the promotion.
After settling for a draw against Japanese women's MMA pioneer Mei Yamaguchi at ONE X, Kelly went a perfect 3-for-3 in her next matches.
Kelly held wins over Sambo world champion Mariia Molchanova, former ONE women's strawweight MMA world title challenger Ayaka Miura, and IBJJF world champion Jessa Khan.
Bastos, however, could become a whole different test for Kelly.
The Brazilian star is a nine-time BJJ world champion and held world titles under IBJJF, IBJJF No-Gi, and Who's Number One.
ONE Fight Night 24, just like all of ONE Championship's Amazon cards is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Danielle Kelly says her dad was apprehensive about her combat sports career
Danielle Kelly always cited her late father as one of her biggest inspirations, yet there was one instance when they didn't see eye-to-eye.
In an interview with The Few Will Hunt Show, Kelly said her father was skeptical about her future in combat sports, particularly when she talked about a potential transition to MMA.
She said:
"No one's going to watch a girl fight. My dad was one of those guys, so I'm sorry dad, but he was basically like, no one watches that, so don't do fighting. He was so supportive, but he was basically just saying and he likes boxing. So he was like, there are no girls at boxing. You're not going to make money. Like, no one's going to watch you."