‘I Already Beat Her Once’ – Jessa Khan Expects To Submit Danielle Kelly In World Title Match At ONE Fight Night 14
ONE Fight Night 14: Stamp vs. Ham on Prime Video will see 21-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu prodigy Jessa Khan square off with Danielle Kelly for the inaugural ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title.
Set to air live on September 29 in U.S. primetime, that historic 10-minute showdown pits two of the planet’s most technical ground fighters against each other and marks Khan’s long-awaited promotional debut.
However, that World Title clash won’t be the first time these elite BJJ black belts have crossed paths.
In 2021, at a U.S. grappling event outside of ONE, Khan and Kelly battled for 15 high-paced minutes, with Khan ultimately emerging victorious via decision.
She told onefc.com that her previous win over Kelly gives her a mental edge heading into their upcoming bout:
“It helps me to know that I already beat her once. So, it’s more her. She needs to prove herself – not me.”
When they first competed against each other, Khan was just 19 years old and making her much-anticipated black belt debut after an incredibly successful run through the colored belts.
Kelly, meanwhile, might not have enjoyed the same amount of hype but was nonetheless an experienced competitor and a feared submission hunter. Despite the gap in experience, the rookie black belt took it to Kelly, achieving several deep submission attempts while largely dominating the positional battle.
Looking back on that match, Khan recalls spending most of the time in the driver’s seat:
“I wasn’t able to submit her, but I was pretty much leading the fight. I was able to hit like 10 different submission attempts, and that’s pretty much what won me the fight. She was mostly just defending.”
Since then, the Cambodian-American prodigy has continued to improve, capturing gold at the prestigious IBJJF World Championships this year to cement herself among the absolute best atomweight competitors in the world.
Still, she’s dissatisfied with her inability to submit Kelly last time, and she’s determined to finish the job on September 29:
“My main goal is to try to get a submission. That kind of bugged me in our fight. The first time, it was 15 minutes. I had more time, but I still wasn’t able to submit her, even though I tried multiple times.
“So I’m definitely going to try to fix whatever went wrong in that match. That way, I can actually get a submission. That’s something that’s been bugging me.”
Khan Unimpressed By Kelly’s Game: ‘I Don’t Really See Too Much’
For many fans, ONE Fight Night 14 will be their introduction to Jessa Khan and her firebrand style of grappling. Those fans are certainly in for a treat.
The Art of Jiu-Jitsu representative described her approach to ground fighting:
“I’m just very aggressive, very active, especially with no-gi. People can’t really hold me down. So I feel like that helps out with my game because I just try to move a lot until I find a way to get to either a good position or to get to a submission.
“You don’t really see any stalling or anything for me – that’s not really part of my game.”
After her sensational run through the 2023 IBJJF World Championships, Khan is loaded with confidence and intends to employ that same ultra-aggressive, attack-oriented style against Danielle Kelly.
Part of that confidence comes from the fact that she wasn’t very impressed with her upcoming opponent in their first encounter.
And although Kelly has impressed in three submission grappling bouts since joining ONE, Khan isn’t worried about what she brings to the table:
“To be honest, I don’t really see too much [in Kelly’s game]. Maybe her takedowns. I know in the other match we did, she was able to take me down. So I’d say she has like some pretty good wrestling. She’s very flexible, has good defense. But like I said, for the most part, that’s all I really see.
“I’m not really too focused on her game because I want to just pretty much focus on myself. And whatever she does, or tries to do, I’m gonna have an answer to that.”
Khan is determined to hand Kelly her first loss in ONE and capture 26 pounds of gold.
And whether it comes by way of her trademark armbar, a choke, or any other submission, her ultimate goal is securing the finish.
She added:
“I’ve been going over a lot of like attacks, whether it’s on bottom or top. You know, I’m mainly known for doing armbars. And I feel pretty comfortable to hit them from any position.
“Like I said, whether I’m on top, on bottom, even if I’m in a bad position, I feel like I always just kind of figure out a way to get to the submission.”
