Grappling star Danielle Kelly is set to defend her World Title for the first time in ONE Championship’s most recent announcement. 

The American athlete will be defending her ONE Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title on U.S. primetime on Friday, August 2nd. She will go up against Brazil’s Mayssa Bastos in a 10-minute submission-only match inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Danielle Kelly has her eyes set on the fight against Mayssa Bastos

Kelly has been stellar since her arrival in the world’s largest martial arts organization in March 2022, winning three and drawing one of her four matches, so far. Her latest victory, which came at the expense of Cambodian-American BJJ black belt Jessa Khan at ONE Fight Night 14 last September, earned her the inaugural belt of the division. 

The win also avenged an earlier loss to Khan, a gold medal winner in the 2023 IBJJF World Championships, and proved why Kelly is one of the best on the planet today. Now she moves on to face one of their biggest challenges yet when she defends her prestigious strap for the first time on the global stage. 

She will share the ring against one of the best female grapplers in the lightest weight classes in Bastos. The Brazilian athlete owns nine IBJJF World Titles, as well as multiple Brazilian National, European, and Pan-American titles.

The 28-year-old joined the growing collection of elite grapplers in ONE earlier this year, defeating Japanese powerhouse Kanae Yamada at ONE Fight Night 20. She is now setting her sights on adding another gold to her already incredible collection. 

It will be an interesting clash of styles, with both fighters possessing different strengths. Kelly has thrived in ONE’s ruleset with her penchant for aggressively chasing submissions, usually aiming for leg locks. Meanwhile, Bastos is gifted with a technically advanced guard game and is also skilled at taking her opponent’s back. 

How will the upcoming ONE Championship events impress the fans?

The World Title showdown between the two grappling stars is the first of many more fights expected to go down at ONE Fight Night 24 in August. In the meantime, ONE Championship is gearing up for two upcoming events that will surely blow the roof off the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. 

Next week, a new ONE Strawweight Kickboxing World Champion will be crowned as former world titleholder Jonathan Di Bella and divisional Muay Thai king Prajanchai PK Saenchai are set to battle for the vacant strap in the main event of ONE Friday Fights 68 on Friday, June 28. 

A week later, ONE Fight Night 23: Buntan vs Meksen will take place in the same venue, headlined by a battle for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight Kickboxing World Championship between Filipino-American striker Jackie Buntan and the legendary Anissa “C18” Meksen. 

Both events are stacked with huge names such as Superlek, former World Champions Alaverdi Ramazanov, Petchtanong Petchfergus, and Ok Rae Yoon, reigning ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo, Nico Carrillo, and many more. Thus, expect ONE Fight Night 24 to be filled with more exciting bouts in the coming days.