Danielle Kelly recalls time she worked as a ring girl

Before becoming known as one of the best submission grapplers in the world, Danielle Kelly spent some time working as a ring card girl at MMA events. In an interview with ONE Championship, Kelly spoke about her work as a ring card girl and what led to her taking the opportunity when it was presented to her:

“When I was doing ring girl-ing, for me, I was in a weird time in my life and I wasn't getting the proper training. So it was hard for me to like focus on the fighting or jiu-jitsu aspects. So I felt like, you know what, I got asked to do the ring girl thing so like, why not. And I get to watch all the fights and it would be super motivating. But you know, I didn't really have, at the time, like, my coach wasn't really helping me.”

Today, Danielle Kelly is a well-known name in the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Signing with ONE Championship in early 2022, Kelly made her promotional debut at the 10th-anniversary spectacular ONE X. Dominating Mei Yamaguchi, Kelly a $50,000 bonus in her very first outing.

Kelly recently returned to the circle at ONE on Prime Video 4 against sambo world champion Mariia Molchanova. Kelly only needed 2:15 to submit her opponent, getting her first finish under the ONE Championship banner.

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Danielle Kelly is unimpressed with Angela Lee’s ground game

With eight career wins by way of submission, and an 82% finish rate inside the circle, Angela Lee is one of the most feared grapplers in women’s mixed martial arts; however, submission standout Danielle Kelly is far from impressed with Lee’s ground word.

Danielle Kelly and Angela Lee have taken shots at one another for the better part of the year, teasing a potential meeting between the two of some sort inside the circle.

Though that has yet to take place, it doesn’t stop the two women warriors from lobbing the occasional verbal jab at one another. In an interview with ONE Championship, Kelly said:

"I haven't really seen her ground game. But I know she went against Mei Yamaguchi. Like, it was back-and-forth action. But when I went against Mei, it was just one-sided. I don't like putting people down but I just like to kind of say how it is."

Kelly continued, saying:

"For MMA she's probably like a top grappler for sure. So that's a different ranking from like jiu-jitsu. Maybe I'll give her a five or six, I just think I have better jiu-jitsu when it comes to the grappling world."