“It was a little hard at first” - Danielle Kelly says wrestling helped her with takedowns

ONE Championship’s female grappling superstar Danielle Kelly has been putting in a lot of work at the gym as she prepares for a highly anticipated debut in mixed martial arts.

Although Kelly has no intentions of rushing her first foray into the sport, the young grappler has been training tirelessly to ensure she is ready. While Kelly has put much of her focus on striking, wrestling is just as important to her development. In an interview with ONE Championship, Danielle Kelly said that wrestling was difficult at first, but in the end, believes the training helped out immensely:

“It was a little hard at first, just because I wouldn’t give up my back a lot. But it also helped me too, because I won’t settle being in a position or settle being put on my back. I will get up right away. It’s like flight mode – if you get taken down, you’re getting back up. So, wrestling helped out a lot.”

Since signing with the promotion in early 2022, Danielle Kelly has only made one appearance for the promotion. It was a fantastic showing against Japanese women’s MMA icon Mei Yamaguchi at the promotion's 10th-anniversary event, ONE X. Though she has expressed a desire to continue taking submission grappling bouts, her emphasis on mixed martial arts training has many fans wondering if her transition is coming sooner rather than later.

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Danielle Kelly admitted to feeling nervous about grappling inside a cage for the first time

When Danielle Kelly made her ONE Championship debut in March, things could not have gone much better. While she didn’t get the finish in her submission grappling debut against Mei Yamaguchi, Kelly was dominant throughout the contest and earned herself a $50,000 bonus in the process.

Recalling her promotional debut, Kelly told the Jiu-Jitsu Times that she was quite nervous the first time she stepped into the circle. Not only was she competing on the global stage, but she was doing so for the first time inside a cage:

“I was a little nervous at first, because that was my first-ever match where I was grappling in a cage. In previous matches, or tournaments, there were no cages, no rings or anything. So it’s made me work a lot now on technique that [involves] a cage. So I’ve been working on that, and also just my finishing mechanics – because I want to go for a submission and not waste a lot of energy or time during the match."