Danielle Kelly poses for photo with former UFC champion Rose Namajunas
ONE submission grappling star Danielle Kelly felt like a fan after asking a fellow fighter for a quick photo.
Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas competed at Fury Pro Grappling 6, an event which Kelly was also in attendance for.
After the pair were previously scheduled to compete against one another in the past, Kelly bit the bullet and asked ‘Thug’ Rose for a photo so that she could share the story with her fans.
She posted the image of them together with the caption:
“Haven’t gotten to post but proof that I’m lowkey 6’0 💪🏼 It was cool to catch up with @rosenamajunas before her match, I hated being that person to ask for a pic lol, we were suppose to compete against each-other a year ago. They were so cool and down to earth. Looking forward to roll together in the future.”
Danielle Kelly and Namajunas were originally supposed to compete against one another at Fury Pro Grappling 3 in December 2021.
With Rose unable to compete, she was replaced by Carla Esparza on short notice, who lost to Kelly via doctor’s stoppage after an accidental headbutt resulted in a nasty cut on Esperza’s head.
Danielle Kelly looking to stay busy in 2023 with multiple fights
Looking ahead to the year ahead, Danielle Kelly is hoping to stay active in 2023 and get multiple fights under her belt.
In 2022, ONE Championship re-introduced submission grappling as a big part of its live events. With Kelly being right at the forefront of the sport, she competed in the promotion’s first-ever women’s submission grappling match against Mei Yamaguchi.
Competing twice inside the circle and kicking off the new division, Kelly accomplished a lot in 2022 and is looking to build on that further this year.
Speaking to ONE, the 27-year-old star revealed the ideal number of fights she’d like to have this year:
“Realistically like four or five, if I’m lucky. I would like to say four, just to stay active. I used to compete almost every month or every weekend, almost, you know, coming up as a purple, brown belt, a black belt competitor. But yeah, especially at this stage, to really study people, I need time. I need to study a lot, so I would like to say, realistically maybe four times.”
Danielle Kelly’s debut came at ONE X against Yamaguchi as history was made for ONE’s 10th-year anniversary event. Against Yamaguchi, she proved how dominant she was, but wasn’t able to secure a submission win, resulting in a draw.
In her second appearance inside the circle, she got the tap that she was looking for, submitting Mariia Molchanova just over two minutes into their contest on November 18.