Mayssa Bastos edged past Danielle Kelly to claim the ONE Atomweight Submission Grappling Championship at ONE Fight Night 24. On Friday, Dec. 6, she must reaffirm her victory to retain the title as the two run it back at ONE Fight Night 26 on Prime Video.
The Brazilian took the victory primarily based on her aggressiveness throughout the match. It was a razor-thin margin that she was on the right side of in Bangkok. Still, Bastos was not a performance she was thoroughly happy with.
“I thought I fought well, but there were some adjustments missing. I managed to land some finishing attacks, but I needed a little more adjustment to get the submission. What surprised me was that she was a little more aggressive than I was expecting,” Bastos told ONE.
Ahead of the anticipated rematch, Bastos reflected on her title-winning performance to assess where she could improve for her first title defense.
The expectation is that she can exploit Kelly’s weaknesses for a more dominant win.
“Studying our last fight, I saw that she has some gaps. At the moment, I’m not going to say what those gaps are because I want to surprise her in the fight,” the ONE Atomweight Submission Grappling Champion stated.
“But what I can say is that I intend to be a little more aggressive in this fight and make her expose herself more because she will start to make a few more mistakes and then the gaps will appear.”
Kelly is also known for her aggressiveness, and if the two ramp up the intensity for the rematch, it should be a fast-paced matchup. If that happens, it will also increase the likelihood of a mistake, which Bastos is counting on from her opponent.
“This time I see this fight ending in a submission. I think we’ll both be very focused on making that happen, on making a better fight,” the Brazilian commented.
“I’m very focused on making adjustments to finish the fight because that’s my goal. I want to go out there, put on a show for the fans, and come out with the victory.”
In addition to retaining the gold, Bastos is looking to secure another $50,000 performance bonus. She is not shy in admitting it serves as extra motivation.
However, don’t expect her to splurge on any luxury, as Bastos plans to be smart and save for the future with her winnings.
“In the first fight, I got this performance bonus, and my goal is to get this award again. In fact, my goal is to have a better performance and come out with a victory by submission,” Bastos offered.
“If I win the prize, I will save and invest it, like I did last time.”
ONE Fight Night 26 airs live and free on Prime Video on Friday, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST to all U.S. and Canadian Amazon Prime subscribers.