Danielle Kelly says her record doesn’t define her as grappler: “I'm not better than my wins or my losses”

At ONE Fight Night 14, Danielle Kelly felt like she had a lot to prove in the biggest matchup of her career to date.

Since signing with ONE Championship, the 27-year old has had one goal in mind that she has been working towards with each training session and appearance inside the circle.

Stepping inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the opportunity she had been chasing had finally arrived with her contest being for the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world championship.

Not only was Kelly out to prove that she deserved to be acknowledged as one of the best in the world, but there was certainly some extra weight on her shoulders ahead of this match.

She faced off with Jessa Khan for the second time in her career. The 21-year-old Cambodian competitor got her hand raised in their first meeting two years prior.

Despite what had previously taken place between the two elite grapplers, Kelly was confident that on fight night, she would prove that she has evolved since her loss to Khan.

She did exactly that, securing the victory at the end of the time limit to be crowned as the first ever female submission grappling world champion in the promotion’s history.

Making history under the ONE Championship banner, the Silver Fox BJJ student was proud that not only did she secure the gold, but she proved that her current ability isn’t defined by what has happened in the past.

In an appearance on the Chewjitsu Podcast, Danielle Kelly spoke about her mentality at this stage in her career and how it has shaped her into the world champion that you now see:

“I just feel like, you know, I'm not better than my wins or my losses, I kind of just had to keep it humble.”

Watch the full podcast interview below:

The replay of ONE Fight Night 14 is available anytime on demand for Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America.