“It would mean the world to me” - Danielle Kelly fixated on working her way to world title opportunity

Submission grappling star Danielle Kelly’s dream is to become a ONE world champion. After seeing fellow grappling stars Mikey Musumeci and Kade Ruotolo capture the promotion’s first submission grappling world titles, Kelly is determined to become the first woman to hold such a title under the ONE banner.

In an interview with The MMA Superfan, Kelly shared her inspiration for becoming a grappling world champion, saying:

“Whoever I go against for the title, if I ever compete for the title, it would mean the world to me. It’s because it’ll just be another accomplishment that I wanted to accomplish since I was a kid doing the sport since I was 11.”

Danielle Kelly returns to the Circle on November 19 for ONE on Prime Video 4. As part of the evening’s lead card, Kelly will meet sambo sensation Mariia Mochanova in a highly-anticipated submission grappling showdown that will pit Brazilian jiu-jitsu excellence with a sambo world champion.

This will be the second time in as many months that ONE Championship has featured a BJJ vs. sambo showdown inside the circle, the last being the ONE on Prime Video 3 matchup between ADCC world champion Kade Ruotolo and sambo champion Uali Kurzhev. Ruotolo captured ONE gold, submitting Kurzhev via heel hook in just over four minutes.

Watch the full interview with Kelly below:

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Danielle Kelly discusses her experience in sambo tournaments

While known for her proficiency in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Danielle Kelly has experience in the world of sambo which will certainly benefit her when she faces one of the best women’s sambo practitioners in the world, Mariia Mochanova at ONE on Prime Video 4.

Speaking with ONE Championship, Kelly discussed her experience competing in sambo:

“I competed in a few sambo tournaments. So the rules are kind of weird, but I think when I was starting to do sambo tournaments, I was focused on the leg locking because I want to just work on that when it started to become popular.”

Kelly continued, saying:

“I feel like they get a submission or they get an arm or leg on you, you would have to be really intelligent and actually know what you’re doing when you’re trying to get out of [the] submission. We can’t just let them take an arm or a leg, or they’re going to break it.”