Danielle Kelly says potential move to MMA lingers: “The thought is still there”

As ONE Fight Night 14 approaches, Danielle Kelly is preparing for the biggest contest of her career.

The 27-year-old martial artist has accomplished a lot in her career to position herself into one of the frontrunners when it comes to female submission grappling.

That being said, on Friday, September 29, she has an opportunity to leave the Singapore Indoor Stadium as a world champion under the ONE Championship banner.

Facing Jessa Khan for the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world title, Kelly is putting everything she has into this hotly anticipated rematch with her former opponent.

That doesn’t mean that Kelly intends to spend her whole career chasing or defending a world championship in submission grappling, though. With many of ONE Championship’s best submission grapplers planning a transitions to MMA in the future, Kelly is no different.

Mikey Musumeci and the Ruotolo brothers have spoken about evolving their skillset and getting used to other departments so they can follow in the footsteps of the likes of Garry Tonon and Marcus Almeida.

In an interview with Sherdog, Danielle Kelly admitted that it is something she has given some thought to. However, with her world title contest nearing, she has temporarily placed it in the rear view mirror.

She said:

“Definitely, the thought is still there. I would like to have like one or two fights, maybe more. But right now, I'm just focusing on my no-gi matches and accomplishing getting the titles first.”

Watch the full interview below:

ONE Fight Night 14 will air live and free in U.S. primetime for North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.