Angela Lee claps back at Danielle Kelly’s "legit grapplers" remark at ONE Championship press conference

Things are beginning to heat up between ONE women’s atomweight world champion ‘Unstoppable’ Angela Lee and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Danielle Kelly, and it’s definitely starting to get really interesting.

The two ONE Championship fighters have been going back and forth via social media, interviews, and wherever else they can take slight, indirect jabs at each other. The latest went down at the joint press conference in LA between ONE and Amazon Prime Video on Wednesday.

ONE Championship vice president Rich Franklin and a slew of martial arts legends and superstars were in town to grace the event, as were Lee and Kelly, who likely were in the same room together for the first time ever.

Earlier in the week, Lee said that if she were to meet Kelly in a submission grappling match, she would win by submission.

Though the athletes all got exposure time, Kelly certainly did not waste her opportunity to take another dig at the atomweight MMA queen when it was her turn on the mic.

When the BJJ star was asked if she had considered a transition to MMA, Kelly said she would when she “felt comfortable,” but stated that she has been “focused on legit grapplers,” obviously insinuating that Lee didn’t belong in that conversation.

Well, in the media scrum after the presser concluded, Thiccc Boy Studios was able to elicit a response from Lee, who said:

“Honestly this whole thing about [Danielle] Kelly and how she was at the press con, and seeing her over the past few days, she seems like she’s a little bit so into herself, right? I don’t got time for that, honestly. I’m focused on the big fights right now -- my title defense, or moving up in weight, capturing that second belt, so I think she’s just trying to drag me and pull me in, get herself a big fight. I’m just gonna tune her out.”

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Angela Lee vs. Danielle Kelly is inevitable

Either this is some legit beef or ONE Championship is really trying to make this fight between Angela Lee and Danielle Kelly.

With a renewed focus on featuring submission grappling bouts in the circle, the promotion is likely looking for a marquee matchup to give Kelly. Fewer would be as big as Angela Lee, who, while not known as a submission grappler, has been nothing short of a submission machine in ONE Championship.

In 11 fights under the ONE banner, Lee has an incredible eight victories via submission, including wins against the ONE women’s atomweight Grand Prix hampion Stamp Fairtex and the reigning women’s strawweight world champion Xiong Jing Nan.

When it comes to “legit grapplers,” few seem more qualified than Angela Lee, which leads many to believe that Danielle Kelly is baiting ‘Unstoppable’ into an inevitable showdown.