Danielle Kelly talks about ONE Championship’s submission grappling rule set

Submission grappling superstar Danielle Kelly is a fan of ONE Championship’s unique rule set for its submission grappling matches.

Kelly will be back in action this Friday night as ONE returns to the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok for ONE Fight Night 7 on Prime Video. Headlined by a highly anticipated ONE bantamweight world title rematch between Fabricio Andrade and John Lineker, fans will be treated to an exciting grappling showdown between Kelly and judo black belt Ayaka Miura.

Ahead of their clash at the iconic venue, Danielle Kelly shared her thoughts on ONE Championship’s submission grappling rules and how it encourages competitors to improve their position to get a finish:

“I like it,” Kelly said in a ONE Fight Night 7 pre-event interview. “It makes people not stall or stay in one position and then have the other person. The refs will tell you to keep going if you stall. You'll get a tally card, which is good for the sport because no one wants to watch boring jiu-jitsu or stalling. So I like the rules because it helps you keep going for the submissions."

Kelly will look to carry her momentum from 2022 into the new year as she makes her first walk of 2023. In her last appearance, Kelly scored a rear-naked choke submission over sambo world champion Mariia Molchanova in just 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Fans in North America can watch the American’s scrap with Miura as well as the rest of ONE Fight Night 7 this Friday, February 24, on U.S. primetime live and for free on Prime Video with an active Amazon subscription.

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Danielle Kelly hopes to become a ONE world champion in 2023

If things go Danielle Kelly’s way in her second year competing under the ONE Championship banner, the Philadelphia native will be strapping 26.4 pounds of ONE gold around her waist.

With the promotion introducing submission grappling world championships in the men’s division, fans and Kelly herself have been clamoring for the women to get their own world championship. Speaking with The MMA Superfan, Kelly shared her thoughts on the positive impact a women’s grappling world champion could have in ONE Championship.

"I think it would be like the biggest platform, it would draw a lot of attention to women’s jiu-jitsu in the world," Kelly said.

In September, ONE crowned its first-ever submission grappling world champion in fan-favorite Mikey Musumeci. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ delivered a dominant performance against Cleber Sousa to capture the flyweight crown. A month later, ADCC world champion Kade Ruotolo captured his own ONE world title, besting sambo world champion Uali Kurzhev to become the promotion’s inaugural lightweight submission grappling world champion.

Is Danielle Kelly the next submission superstar to be crowned a ONE world champion? Only time will tell.