Danielle Kelly looking forward to watching ONE’s first grappling world title match

Brazilian jiu-jitsu star Danielle Kelly said she’s looking forward to watching the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling championship match between Mikey Musumeci vs. Cleber Sousa this September.

ONE Championship will broadcast the historic event live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on September 30 at ONE on Prime Video 2. The trilogy bout between Musumeci and Sousa is predicted to be a crowd-pleasing bout, which Danielle Kelly is stoked to watch with the rest of the world.

When asked what she thought about watching ONE’s first-ever grappling world title match, Kelly responded:

“I think it's really awesome that ONE Championship is having a grappling-only title, submission title. So that'd be really cool to witness and hopefully, I get one [chance to challenge for one] in the future.”

Musumeci and Sousa are currently tied 1-1 after their first two meetings. Sousa defeated the American grappler by decision in their first meeting at the 2017 IBJJF Pan American Championship, while Musumeci won on points in their second encounter at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Professional jiu-jitsu Championship.

Musumeci, a 4-time IBJJF world champion, made his ONE debut last April, beating MMA legend Masakazu Imanari via rear-naked choke and earning a 50K performance bonus to boot.

When asked by ONE if she was rooting for her fellow countryman, Danielle Kelly responded in a matter-of-fact tone:

“Yes, yeah, [he’s] an American. Plus, I like watching jiu-jitsu altogether. So I want to see the other guy's matches before I make my picks. But yeah, anyway, I hope Mikey wins.”

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Danielle Kelly wants two grappling matches by the end of 2022

With the first-ever men’s submission grappling world title match taking full sail, Danielle Kelly is also focused on getting a few fights in before the year’s end.

After a successful promotional debut in a submission grappling bout against Mei Yamaguchi at ONE X, Kelly is anxious to get the ball rolling before considering MMA full-time.

Speaking to SCMP MMA, Kelly openly discussed her plans for the near future:

“I would like to have two matches, jiu-jitsu. 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.”

Danielle Kelly certainly has plenty of options to compete against "legit grapplers", as she would say, before making a transition to MMA.

A possible rematch with ONE newcomer Jessa Khan could be one of the paths she could take. With the promotion’s growing and dynamic roster, the Silver Fox representative will soon surely have another exciting opponent lined up for her.