Danielle Kelly recalls a time when she had to fight for her BJJ dream

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Danielle Kelly when she first entered the competitive scene in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Like most young trailblazers, Kelly had to overcome a lot of outside noise to pursue a BJJ as a professional.

Understanding there’s still a lot of work to be done in terms of global coverage for women’s jiu-jitsu, Kelly wrote an inspirational Instagram post to inspire the next generation of female fighters experiencing similar setbacks.

She began the message with a strong first statement that set the tone for the rest of her entire post. Read the initial excerpt below:

“There was a point in my life where my mom didn’t agree with me to keep training jiu jitsu because she felt there was no use or it would never support me in my future.”

ONE Championship followed up with the star about her message and asked her why she felt it was important for her to write it.

Kelly said:

“My post was basically saying, you know, growing up in the sport where there wasn’t really any attention on women’s jiu-jitsu and fighting, especially women’s fighting. It was really hard to make a living off it.”

Since making her ONE Championship last March, Danielle Kelly has catapulted women’s jiu-jitsu into the mainstream at unprecedented speed.

As the first female submission grappler in ONE history, Kelly is doing a phenomenal job representing the sport she loves with two dominant back-to-back victories.

Alongside women like Bianca Basilio and Angela Lee, she’s changing the way people view jiu-jitsu in a more positive light.

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Fans react to Danielle Kelly’s next grappling match against Judo stylist Ayaka Miura

ONE Championship wasted no time in booking Danielle Kelly’s next submission grappling match. She is scheduled to face former world title challenger Ayaka Miura in a grappling bout to jumpstart her year at ONE on Prime Video 7: Lineker vs. Andrade II.

Kelly was up in spirits when she announced the news on her Instagram, visibly happy with the choice of opponent.

She wrote:

“Starting 2023 right 💪🏼 @onechampionship prime video 7, don’t miss this as I’m coming for another submission against a high level mma fighter and judo black belt."

Her fans also agreed that ONE Championship hit the nail on the head with another potential barnburner of a match. Here’s what they had to say:

“Dam. Wasn't expecting that. Ayaka. 👏👏”

“🔥🔥🔥🔥 showtime 🙌”

“Oh snap! I feel bad for your opponent 🤣 LFG Danielle!💪🏽”