WATCH: Danielle Kelly performs awesome back-take entry from closed guard against much bigger male training partner
Danielle Kelly's technical mastery of 'The Gentle Art' is indeed a sight to behold. The former atomweight submission grappling queen is on a mission to reclaim her 26 pounds of gold this coming Dec. 6 in the first of two world title bouts at ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulov on Prime Video.
In a bid to recapture the throne against its current ruler Mayssa Bastos at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, the American grappler is pulling out all the stops in training.
In a clip uploaded by ONE on Instagram, Danielle Kelly showcased her underrated guard game by transitioning from full guard into a nifty back-take entry against a much bigger training partner.
“Danielle Kelly’s strategy is 👌💯 Can the American star take back the ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title from Mayssa Bastos at ONE Fight Night 26?”
Kelly set up her incredible escape by threatening an arm-lock from a shoulder crunch position. Her training partner tried to open her guard by stacking and applying pressure by putting his knee between her legs.
The Silver Fox BJJ standout, however, was one step ahead and threatened with a belly-down armbar.
Once his helpless foe defended, Kelly slithered her way to his back. Now that's some textbook jiu-jitsu from the 27-year-old BJJ superstar!
Danielle Kelly wants to tick all boxes in preparation for Mayssa Bastos
Danielle Kelly has a different mindset now that she enters her rematch with Mayssa Bastos as the challenger. At ONE Fight Night 24 last August, the pair of supreme grappling athletes threw everything at each other for 10 minutes in a closely contested chess match.
However, the judges deemed that Bastos did more and walked away as the new atomweight submission grappling world champion.
This time around, though, Kelly is pulling out all the stops to flip the script. She wrote on Instagram:
"Trying to roll through ever session like 🦥🦥🦥 it's not going to be easy nor [is] this match, but doing everything to be prepared."
Prime Video subscribers in North America can watch ONE Fight Night 26 free live as it happens in US Primetime.