News
Ben Coate
Dec 11, 2024
‘I Really Wanted To Submit Her’ – Mayssa Bastos Still Hungry To Improve After Second World Title Win Over Danielle Kelly
Mayssa Bastos has thoroughly erased any doubts that she is the planet’s top atomweight submission grappler.
On December 6 in U.S. primetime, the Brazilian superstar scored her second consecutive victory over American fan favorite Danielle Kelly to successfully defend her ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Title at ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulov on Prime Video.
The hard-fought decision win came after Bastos dethroned Kelly to claim the belt in their first World Title meeting at ONE Fight Night 24 this past August.
Both bouts were closely contested affairs, but this time around, Bastos was able to secure multiple dominant positions while forcing her foe largely on the defensive to convincingly assert herself as the superior BJJ black belt.
Despite being thrilled to retain her gold, the ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Champion was unhappy that she didn’t secure the finish.
She told onefc.com:
“I think I performed better than last time, but I don’t think I’m satisfied with the win. I really wanted to submit her.”
Bastos’ failure to find the submission wasn’t due to a lack of trying.
She dominated the match’s early going with a clean guard pass and solid work from side control. Minutes later, she attacked with a front headlock, nearly securing a D’Arce choke, but couldn’t do enough to earn a catch.
With just seconds remaining, though, the Brazilian latched onto a brutal belly-down heel hook that twisted Kelly’s leg in a knee-destroying angle, scoring the bout’s one and only catch.
Bastos said that she may have injured the American with that leg lock, but that her breaking mechanics simply weren’t strong enough to get the finish:
“I felt like I had a pretty tight heel hook at the end. I was even feeling her heel popping, but I guess [that wasn’t] enough to make her tap.”
After her win at ONE Fight Night 26, Bastos is now 2-0 against the woman she took the atomweight submission grappling crown from.
While she’s not closing the door on a potential trilogy match with Kelly in the future, she’s excited to face other contenders next.
She explained:
“I would like to fight other people first. Then I think [Kelly] needs to fight and climb back again to deserve a shot at the belt.”
Bastos Sends A Message To Her Fans
Mayssa Bastos was already widely regarded as the greatest-ever BJJ competitor in the sport’s lightest weight classes, and her second straight World Title win over Danielle Kelly only further solidified that claim.
Humble and modest to her core, the nine-time IBJJF World Champion and two-time ONE Women’s Atomweight Submission Grappling World Champion deflected questions about her status as the pound-for-pound best grappler walking the planet today.
However, she was happy to send a message to her supporters and thank her Art of Jiu-Jitsu teammate, Cole Abate, who coached Bastos to the victory shortly after he scored an impressive submission win in his ONE debut earlier on the card.
Bastos added:
“I want to thank everyone for cheering for me. I want to thank my team. I also want to congratulate my teammate and professor, Cole – he won his match.
“And my other teammate who helped me with training. So, yeah, I just want to thank everyone who was by my side daily and who cheered for me.”
