Mayssa Bastos “looking forward” to defending atomweight submission grappling throne from former queen Danielle Kelly
Mayssa Bastos is hellbent solidifying her reign as the ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion.
The Brazilian superstar will defend her throne against the division's former queen Danielle Kelly at the stacked ONE Fight Night 26 card on Dec. 6, US primetime, at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
Taking to Instagram, Bastos expressed her intent to hold on to the gold and her desire to deal Kelly her second loss in ONE Championship.
Mayssa Bastos wrote:
"Looking forward to my first title defense."
Bastos is one of this generation's best submission grapplers holding an astounding professional record of 119-12, 2-0 in ONE Championship, with nine IBJJF world titles.
The 27-year-old made her ONE Championship debut at ONE Fight Night 20 with a dominant unanimous decision win over Japan's Kanae Yamada.
With her stellar debut and immense collection of BJJ world titles, Bastos secured a world title challenge against Kelly for the atomweight submission grappling throne at ONE Fight Night 24 in August.
It was a technical back-and-forth between the two BJJ black belts, but a late catch for Bastos proved critical in swaying the judges' decision in her favor.
Bastos now defends the gold against Kelly in the same Bangkok arena where they first squared off for the strap.
ONE Fight Night 26 is ONE Championship's final Amazon card of the year and is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Mayssa Bastos says her world title win over Danielle Kelly was one of the most important of her career
Mayssa Bastos is no stranger to collecting world titles, but the one she took at ONE Fight Night 24 held a little more prestige than the ones she had before.
After her unanimous decision win over Danielle Kelly, Bastos said capturing the ONE atomweight submission grappling world title was one of the most important wins of her career.
Bastos said at the card's post-event press conference:
"One of the biggest wins for sure, yes."