Danielle Kelly recalls maintaining unbreakable focus in world title match against Jessa Khan: “The first time I did that”

At ONE Fight Night 14 this past September, Danielle Kelly became the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion.

The American Brazilian jiu-jitsu star fought a former foe in Cambodian-American Jessa Khan inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium. After a grueling 10-minute match, Kelly realized her childhood dream as she came out on top with a unanimous decision win.

Weeks after her historic win at ONE Fight Night 14, Danielle Kelly appeared on the Chewjitsu Podcast on YouTube to discuss a few things:.

"Danielle Kelly is a BJJ black belt and the inaugural ONE Championship Atomweight Champion. Danielle discusses her recent championship match at ONE Championship against Jessa Khan, her training camp leading into the match, how to approach a match against an opponent who has a win against you, training for a grappling match in a cage, what it felt like to win the ONE Championship belt, how Danielle deals with nerves and the pressure of competition, if she prefers drilling or just rolling for training, how she continues to evolve her game, her start in BJJ and her first tournament opponent, when she decided to train BJJ full time, and advice for younger grapplers."

Check out the full podcast episode below:

One interesting bit in the podcast was when Kelly discussed how she maintained her unbreakable focus in a high-stakes match like the one against Khan.

You'd be surprised to hear that the dashing and dangerous grappler utilized a different approach to her fight: completely not worrying about it. Kelly said:

"This is like the first time I did that [completely not worrying too much about the fight] because in my other matches, I was always just thinking, ‘Oh my God, what if they do this, what if they do that, what will they do.’ And, you know, I just kind of would lose focus."

There are times when athletes use nerves to help keep them on edge and stay sharp during a match - not Danielle Kelly, apparently.

To the Silverfox BJJ standout, staying calm and not having any sort of anxiety during a match helped her clear her mind and focus on the task at hand.

At the moment, no official bout has been linked to Kelly yet. With 2024 fast approaching, however, expect new matchups to be announced for the newly crowned submission grappling queen.