ONE Championship looks to no longer have contractual ties to former grappling titleholder Danielle Kelly as well as several notable mixed martial artists who had previously fought in the ONE Circle. This news came from Nick Atkin of Bangkok Post who mentioned the information regarding Kelly as well as the releases of mixed martial arts competitors like Meng Bo, Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg, Xie Wei, and Antonio Mammarella.
The former atomweight submission grappling champion, along with these referenced MMA fighters, were released with subtlety as the promotion did not make a formal announcement of this with updated profiles on the organization’s website.
Danielle Kelly played a major role in the growth of ONE Championship’s submission grappling branch, receiving some of the most widespread focus among the crop of elite no-gi grapplers that they signed a few years back. The 29-year-old would become the first ever champion in her chosen weight category before Kelly lost the strap to Mayssa Bastos in August of last year.
This follows news of other big ONE grapplers no longer plying their trade in the Circle, with former ONE submission grappling darling Mikey Musumeci moving to UFC BJJ where he now holds gold.
As for Meng Bo, her release surprised many who actively follow the ONE circuit, as the Chinese combatant was previously the number four-ranked women’s atomweight MMA contender and seemed closer to receiving a title shot next than receiving her walking papers.
Bo also fought outside of her weight class in a valiant effort against ONE strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan, and also Bo has a notable win over current UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili.
ONE Championship athlete cuts continued
As for Zoltsetseg, Wei, and Mammarella, they each have their own stories in ONE that have now seemingly reached their endpoint. Zoltsetseg has posted a 5-4 record under the promotional banner since his debut in ONE Championship in 2019.
Wei was put on the chopping block after accruign a three fight losing skid, albeit against some of the promotion’s top fighters. The Chinese flyweight would lose to stalwart contender Reece McLaren, current titleholder Yuya Wakamatsu, and finally Tatsumitsu Wada on July 5th.
As for Mammarella, he had a brief 0-2 run in the ONE Circle, including a defeat to Adrian Lee who is the younger brother of Angela, Christian, and Victoria Lee.
There has been no official statement from ONE Championship regarding any of these athlete releases at this juncture.
