Danielle Kelly says jiu-jitsu ambitions never stemmed from a young age: “I thought I was going to go to school for wrestling”

For Danielle Kelly, ONE Fight Night 14 was a pivotal moment in her career that had been built up to through years of dedication and sacrifice.

Throughout her career, the 27-year-old has been trying to inspire and motivate others that may have found themselves in similar positions to herself.

It has been a long road to the top in ONE Championship with plenty of setbacks and adversity, but at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, it was her night to finally reach the top of the sport.

Defeating Jessa Khan to become the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion, the American finally earned the accolade that she had been chasing for a long time.

Alongside all of the ups and downs that she has faced both in Jiu-jitsu and in life, there were plenty of occasions where she could have taken a different route and never made it to this stage in her career.

Reflecting on the path that she has been on in an appearance on the Chewjitsu Podcast, Danielle Kelly revealed that being a full-time competitor in her chosen field was at one point, out of the picture.

Having trained in wrestling from a young age, this was just another example of how the Silver Fox BJJ student has been through a lot of twists and turns that have led her to becoming a world champion:

“So I didn't think I would be doing jiu-jitsu full-time because I originally thought I was going to go to school for wrestling because while I was in school like I also got into wrestling while I was in mid-sixth grade to seventh grade and because my coach made me do it at the time to like help with my jiu-jitsu takedowns in competition.”

Watch the full podcast interview below:

North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 14 via the free event replay.