What Danielle Kelly likes to do when she’s not choking people out on the mats

Danielle Kelly’s entire life revolves around Brazilian jiu-jitsu. The young American BJJ star works around the clock, alternating between training at her home gym at Silver Fox BJJ to teaching jiu jitsu to BJJ students around the world.

However, when she’s not training or working, Kelly appreciates the time she spends away from the sport she loves.

Danielle Kelly told ONE in a recent interview how she likes to spend her free time when she’s not focused on jiu jitsu.

She said:

“When I'm not training or teaching, or working, I either like to sleep [or] I like to hang out with my friends sometimes, like when I'm not being a loner. I'll play video games or whatever because it just kind of keeps my mind busy. And it's just something because this is my life. So it's good to kind of not think about jiu- jitsu or fighting for like two hours.”

To break away from a monotonous routine, the Philadelphia-born grappler enjoys doing mundane activities to refresh her body and mind:

"I kind of try to find hobbies, I don't know, like riding my bike or something, do outside activities, or since it's summer now, I like to surf. So that's my second hobby, my favorite thing to do. So I'll just find comfort in that, whether I'm training or not.”

Ever since Kelly made her ONE debut against MMA veteran Mei Yamaguchi in a submission grappling match at ONE X this past March, the 26-year-old has been training overtime to improve her submission game.

Kelly documents her journey on Instagram, sharing videos of herself training with the most elite grapplers in the business. Fighting under these intense conditions, it doesn’t hurt to step back and relax sometimes.

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Danielle Kelly’s dominant debut performance against Mei Yamaguchi bagged her a $50,000 bonus performance

When she made her ONE debut earlier this year, Danielle Kelly took home a $50,000 cash bonus following her dominant performance against MMA veteran, Mei Yamaguchi.

Prior to the match, Kelly had already built a high reputation among the grappling community. She beat UFC strawweight world champion Carla Esparza at Pro Cage Fury and broke the women’s record for the fastest submission in WNO history in 2021.

Fans were therefore curious to see how well the 26-year-old would fare against one of the organization’s most popular stars. Kelly’s submission attempts were fantastic as she was very close to tapping out the Japanese legend multiple times with sneaky heel hooks.

Ultimately, the bout ended in a draw since there was no submission. However, Danielle Kelly put on one heck of a performance, earning herself a hefty cash bonus in the process.

What did she do with the money? Kelly hasn’t planned that out just yet. The 26-year-old says she’s just keeping it safe for now until she needs it in the future.

Re-watch Danielle Kelly in action below: