ONE Championship: Danielle Kelly says winning grappling title would be biggest accomplishment, but still plotting move to MMA
- American has options in ONE atomweight grappling division, including Angela Lee and Jessa Khan, but ultimately hopes to win a belt
- The 26-year-old also wants to transition into mixed martial arts soon, but is more likely to close out 2022 with ‘two jiu jitsu matches’
Danielle Kelly hopes to try her hand at mixed martial arts, but still has some big goals to accomplish on the submission grappling circuit.
The 26-year-old American, an accomplished Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, signed with ONE Championship earlier this year, and immediately laid out plans to compete in submission grappling and eventually, in MMA.
Those plans have not changed. Kelly still aims to debut in MMA soon, with the caveat that she can get all of her coaches out to ONE’s home base of Singapore.
“I would like to have two matches, jiu-jitsu,” Kelly told the Post recently, laying out her plans for the rest of 2022. “I was going to say maybe an MMA fight at the end of the year, before the year ends, but you know, it just depends on my corner. I want everyone there, so I’ll just say, for now, two jiu-jitsu matches.”
While Kelly has achieved a lot as a submission grappler, she has certainly not run out of options.
In addition to a widely-discussed grappling super fight with ONE’s atomweight MMA queen Angela Lee, the 26-year-old is also interested in a rematch with new ONE signee Jessa Khan, whom she lost a decision to in the US last year.
“She’s a legit grappler,” Kelly said of the 20-year-old Khan. “That’s someone I need to focus on, and I want to get at her again. So, yeah, I mean, if ONE offered me that match, I’m all for it.”