Danielle Kelly and Jessa Khan met in a rematch at ONE Fight Night 14 on September 29th, 2023 and this time the promotion’s atomweight submission grappling title was on the line. This match was always going to be important to Kelly, as she lost their first meeting and was undoubtedly going to be eager to get one back against Khan. It was also important Khan and to the history of ONE Championship too, as the winner would become the first female submission grappling champion in the promotion’s history.
Kelly came out far more aggressively in the beginning of the match, driving Khan against the cage until she eventually jumped to closed guard under pressure. Kelly stayed standing for about a minute until she was able to break Khan’s grips and shake her off, immediately working on passing with Khan stacked against the cage. Khan was able to lock up closed guard again though, using an underhook on the leg to try to transition into a leg entanglement. Kelly prevented her from connecting her legs while standing at first but then had to sit down in order to escape, before returning to standing to pass.
Kelly managed to stuff Khan’s leg into the headquarters position but Khan was using a shallow de la riva hook with her free leg to relieve the pressure. Khan was eventually able to use it to invert and threaten the legs again but Kelly shut it down quickly and returned to headquarters again. This time Khan was able to off-balance her a little better and hit a sweep, wrestling up and taking top position despite an attempt by Kelly to hit a counter butterfly sweep. Khan passed very quickly and took the front headlock as Kelly turned into her, transitioning to the back almost immediately afterward.
Khan got to work digging for the rear-naked choke and managed to get her hands locked up at one point, but her forearm was over Kelly’s face instead. She started to lose the position as she adjusted, but she kept the seatbelt and hit a textbook chair-sit to re-take the back. Kelly did manage to escape shortly afterward though and she found herself in closed guard once again. Kelly stood up and used the cage to limit Khan’s offense, latching on to a toehold when her opponent opened her legs and dropping down to try to finish it.
Danielle Kelly was awarded the first ‘catch’ of ONE Fight Night 14 for the attempt but Khan managed to pummel her legs free and started working on some offense of her own. Khan couldn’t get anything going so she got to her knees to take top position, and Kelly used a 2-on-1 grip to pull her into guard. Khan disengaged and stood up while Kelly rose to meet her, pressuring her against the cage with an underhook. Khan jumped to closed guard again but Kelly used a deep underhook and a forearm against the face to shut down any offense that she might be able to offer.
The referee reset them in the center and gave Khan a warning, but she started to back up when faced with Kelly’s immediate forward pressure on the restart. She got Khan against the cage again and hit a judo throw, driving her knee down to start passing once they landed. Kelly was trying to get a leg-drag going when Khan sat her down and almost managed to pull her into 50/50, but Kelly popped back up and kept up the pressure. Khan managed to work her way to a crab-ride and almost got sight of the back again but Kelly used an overhook to prevent it.
Kelly tried a backstep but Khan used a butterfly hook to keep the momentum going and almost managed to take her back again. Kelly managed to prevent it but Khan sat back on a straight ankle-lock to try and finish the fight with just a few seconds left. Kelly forced her to outside ashi garami and pressured forward, freeing her leg and getting up on top as the time ran out. Although she wasn’t able to finish the match, Danielle Kelly had won the match and was crowned the atomweight submission grappling world champion at ONE Fight Night 14.
ONE Fight Night 14 Full Results
Stamp Fairtex defeats Ham Seo-Hee via TKO – Punches to the Body (Round 3, 1:04)
Fairtex wins the vacant ONE Championship Atomweight MMA World Championship
Smilla Sundell defeats Allycia Rodrigues via TKO – Punches and Elbows (Round 3, 2:58)
Sundell retains the ONE Championship Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship
Danielle Kelly defeats Jessa Khan via Decision – Unanimous (Round 1, 10:00)
Kelly becomes the inaugural ONE Championship Atomweight Submission Grappling World Champion
Xiong Jing Nan defeats Wondergirl Jaroonsak via TKO – Punches (Round 3, 2:42)
John Lineker defeats Stephen Loman via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Dmitry Menshikov defeats Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong via TKO – Three Knockdowns (Round 1, 2:41)
Eduard Folayang defeats Amir Khan via KO – Punch (Round 3, 1:57)
Mauro Cerilli defeats Paul Elliott via TKO – Doctor Stoppage (Round 1, 5:00)
Asa Ten Pow defeats Rambolek Chor.Ajalaboon via KO – Punch and Head Kick (Round 3, 0:25)
Maurice Abevi defeats Blake Cooper via TKO – Elbow and Punches (Round 1, 4:36)
The full ONE Fight Night 14 event replay, including the atomweight title-fight between Danielle Kelly and Jessa Khan, was uploaded to the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
