Jessa Khan recalls transitioning from karate to jiu-jitsu: “We thought to try a different sport”

Jessa Khan started her martial arts journey doing karate before transitioning to jiu-jitsu, where she has found a lot of success.

The Cambodian-American fighter shared this in an interview with Alex Wendling on YouTube, detailing how the combat sports shift that she had to make opened a lot of opportunities for her.

The 21-year-old Khan said:

“The first martial art I started was actually karate. I started that in California and then after a couple of years of living there we moved to Hawaii and that's when I started training jiu-jitsu.”

She continued:

“Initially, I was going to start training in karate again but we just couldn't find a gym that fit right for me. So then we thought to try a different sport.”

Check out the interview below:

Since picking up jiu-jitsu, Jessa Khan has never looked back, steadily soaring to prominence through various competitions.

She has represented the Cambodian National Team and won gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games, 2019 and 2023 Southeast Asian Games, and more recently at the 2023 IBJJF World Championship.

Jessa Khan now has a grand opportunity to further raise her standing on the global stage as she vies for the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world title later this month in her promotional debut.

She will battle American grappling ace Danielle Kelly in the title showdown at ONE Fight Night 14 on Prime Video on September 29.

The clash is part of a 10-fight offering happening at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and is available live and for free to Prime Video subscribers in North America.

The showdown will be the second meeting between the two after they collided in February 2021 at an event outside of ONE Championship in the United States. Jessa Khan came away with a decision victory in said match.

She is now looking to ride on the momentum she generated from the first encounter with Kelly to book a win in her ONE debut and take her place in the promotion’s roster of world champions.

Danielle Kelly, for her part, has won back-to-back matches to solidify her spot in the inaugural world title match. Her most recent victory came last February over Ayaka Miura of Japan by unanimous decision.