Danielle Kelly reveals the athletes who made her a ONE Championship fan 

Danielle Kelly has detailed why she fell in love with ONE Championship.

Kelly, an American jiu-jitsu phenom, is quickly establishing herself as a superstar for ONE Championship’s expansion into submission grappling. Since joining ONE, the 26-year-old seems to be loving her new home. During an interview with the promotion, she had this to say about which fighters made her initially watch ONE:

“Yes, but I also watched ONE and I even watched Garry and Shinya. Actually, I have been watching Shinya. I actually forgot to mention him. Shinya Aoki, I watched his old videos when I was starting in jiu-jitsu, because he was all over YouTube. So I have known about ONE Championship. And I always told myself like, I want to compete there one day, it'd be so cool.”

Danielle Kelly continued by saying:

“And Chatri's amazing. So that's a plus, you know? I just remember seeing Shinya and then seeing Garry and Shinya compete before anyone wanted to compete or grapple for ONE Championship. I've always wanted to because I thought it was exciting. And I know we didn't get as many views but that grappling match itself was very exciting. So yeah, I've always just known about them and always wanted to compete for them.”

The jiu-jitsu practitioner made her ONE debut in March 2022, where she went to a draw with Mei Yamaguchi. Kelly returned eight months later and made a statement by submitting Sambo specialist Mariia Molchanova in under three minutes. After beating Molchanova, the 26-year-old continued to escalate her rivalry with ONE MMA world champion Angela Lee.

---

Danielle Kelly thinks ONE Championship could help make jiu-jitsu as popular as MMA

Danielle Kelly was brought into ONE Championship with fellow Americans Kade Ruotolo, Tye Ruotolo, and Mikey Musumeci to help grow its submission grappling division. The question is, how big can ONE make submission grappling with the general public? During an interview with the promotion, Kelly had this to say:

“You know, I think with ONE Championship pushing that, I think it's really good for the sport, especially for both men and women. You know, I think it's a good move and a lot of these jiujitsu matches are very exciting. I think it could be on the level where MMA is.”

ONE Championship has just begun helping the sport grow. Their rule set is based on submission attempts, which has led to more intriguing matches compared to common judging that rewards control time and positioning. With young superstars like Kelly and the Ruotolo brothers leading the way, there is plenty of room for ONE’s grappling divisions to grow.

Watch Danielle Kelly submit Mariia Molchanova below: