Danielle Kelly reveals she trained BJJ in a cage setting to prepare for Jessa Khan: “You need to worry about your surroundings”

Apart from developing the necessary technical skills to defeat her rival, Jessa Khan, Danielle Kelly also focused on the terrain of their high-stakes battle.

That extra attention to detail proved crucial for the American BJJ ace, as she realized her dream of becoming ONE’s inaugural atomweight submission grappling queen at ONE Fight Night 14 last month.

The fact that she acquired gold at the expense of her former tormentor was simply icing on the cake.

Kelly and Khan figured in a thrilling 10-minute grappling fest, displaying the true beauty of ‘The Gentle Art’ when performed at the highest level.

In the end, it was Kelly’s experience fighting inside the cage that sealed the deal, as she imposed her dominance over the IBJJF world champion to get the unanimous decision nod.

Danielle Kelly recently guested on the Chewjitsu Podcast and discussed her career-defining victory.

According to the 27-year-old ground savant, she expected the cage to play a huge factor in the match and prepared herself for all possible scenarios.

“So in the beginning like I trained for Jessa like a regular jiu-jitsu match, you know, because like I’m a jiu-jitsu person and I like it in the center because that's how I always competed.”

The Silver Fox BJJ athlete added:

“And then in like the last month or two I focused more stuff in the cage. I have competed in the cage before too, but like my last match it was in the ring, so that's totally different than the cage and different rules, so I focused on wrestling.

Whereas in the cage or ring, you need to worry about your surroundings and what you're doing with your opponent.”

Relive Danielle Kelly’s masterful performance at ONE Fight Night 14, available anytime on demand for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America

Here’s Kelly’s full interview in its entirety: