Danielle Kelly says early days of training jiu-jitsu ‘against dudes’ were ‘pretty brutal’

Danielle Kelly has never shied away from challenging herself against someone bigger and stronger.

Today, Kelly is one of the best female grapplers in the sport of submission grappling. Making her ONE Championship debut in 2022, Kelly has remained undefeated and etched her name in the history books by becoming the first-ever ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion in September.

Her victory over Jessa Khan at ONE Fight Night 14 was the culmination of 15 years of hard work that forced her to regularly compete against boys who were older, bigger, and stronger than her in the gym:

“When I started like women’s jiu-jitsu, women’s fighting wasn't known,” Kelly said in an interview with Brendan Schaub on his Thicc Boy YouTube channel. “It wasn't popular, it was hard even for women to get fights like you're probably just trading with a bunch of boys.”

See the full interview below:

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Danielle Kelly endured some ‘rough’ learning lessons en route to becoming a world champion

Continuing her conversation with Schaub, Danielle Kelly revealed that many of the boys she was forced to train with were five to six years older, resulting in some fairly rough training sessions. The older she got, the more physical things got:

“I was like you know, imagine a 10-11 year old me, going against kids who are like 16-17, like there were barely any girls in my class,” Kelly added. “So I had to learn pretty early at a young age, they were some rough learning lessons against dudes. Oh yeah and like when I started to get older like 16 years old 17 then we'll go against guys, who like had to prove a point, it was pretty brutal.”

For what it’s worth, Danielle Kelly is the most recognized face in women’s submission grappling. With her impressive decision victory over Jessa Khan inside the iconic Singapore Indoor Stadium, she is now heralded by many as the premiere athlete in the sport.

If you missed any of the action or want to relive an epic night in ONE Championship history, the ONE Fight Night 14 replay can be watched anytime on demand via Amazon Prime Video in North America.