“You have to respect the sport” - Danielle Kelly says respect goes both ways in BJJ vs. Sambo debate

Danielle Kelly has joined the long-running debate between Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and sambo. The two submission grappling art forms have long been at odds with one another, with practitioners of each regularly taking potshots at the other.

In an interview with the MMA Super Fan, Kelly shared that she believes that no matter which side of the debate you land on, there must be mutual respect for both BJJ and sambo.

“I mean, I will say if I’m a sambo person you have to respect the sport of jiu-jitsu but I feel like since I’m in jiu-jitsu there’s a lot of sambo people saying ‘sambo is much better than jiu-jitsu’ or ‘sambo beats jiu-jitsu people.’”

ONE Championship has leaned into that debate by pitting BJJ world champions against sambo specialists inside the circle to see which form of martial arts is truly superior.

The most recent example is the ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship contest between ADCC world champion Kade Ruotolo and sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev.

Squaring off at ONE on Prime Video 3, BJJ's side emerged victorious with Kade Ruotolo securing a heel hook submission to capture the inaugural world title of the division.

Though it was a definitive win for BJJ, the debate is far from over and ONE Championship will continue pairing the best jiu-jitsu artists against the world’s best sambo superstars.

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Danielle Kelly weighs in on HBO hit series House of the Dragon

Danielle Kelly made her ONE Championship debut back in March at the promotion’s 10-anniversary event, ONE X. Since then, Kelly has been busy training and preparing for a return which is right around the corner.

Interestingly, Kelly has also been using her free time to keep up with some of the more popular programs on television, including HBO’s immensely popular Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon.

Danielle Kelly appears to be the only person to admit that they were not thoroughly entertained by the prequel series:

“I don’t hate it. It’s just kind of like, you know I felt the show was kind of slow. Unlike Game of Thrones, I feel like the buildup was more exciting than House of the Dragons. So, I don’t know. I feel that one character is kinda like carrying the show.”

The series follows the Targaryen dynasty 200 years before the rise of the fan-favorite character from the hugely popular series, Daenerys Targaryen.