“Everything changes once you’re getting punched in the face” - Danielle Kelly shares Buchecha’s advice to her

Jiu-jitsu superstar and current ONE grappler Danielle Kelly is slowly transitioning into MMA while still one of the very best in submission grappling today. One of the major influences guiding her in translating her jiu-jitsu skills into full-blown cage fighting is none other than Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida.

The 17-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and current ONE heavyweight MMA fighter has had one of the greatest transitions from jiu-jitsu to MMA in recent memory. The submission grappling icon is currently undefeated, with a 100% finishing rate inside the circle.

'Buchecha' and Kelly met in LA for ONE's press conference to promote their partnership with Amazon Prime Video. Speaking about the brief interaction between the two, Kelly told ONE Championship what 'Buchecha' shared with her:

“We briefly talked when we were in LA. He told me he was a little nervous at first. It was new to him because he’s used to jiu-jitsu and the gi. He was just telling me it’s still new, but over time it’s kind of like jiu-jitsu. You get used to grappling through doing sparring rounds, so you can get used to MMA."

Danielle Kelly further explained:

“The more you spar, the more you get used to getting punched in the face and the technique battles from standing – because everything changes once you’re getting punched in the face.”

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Danielle Kelly has been training in MMA for some time now

Though she is very much focused on submission grappling at the moment, Danielle Kelly still has her sights set on eventually transitioning into MMA. In fact, she's already training in the sport right now.

In her interview with ONE, Kelly said:

“I have been doing my [MMA] classes right now. I’ve been getting back into sparring. It’s very humbling, just because the girls that I train with, they’re in other organizations, some of them are top 10 – and they’re really good jiu-jitsu, too."

Kelly continued:

“It’s going to be hard for me if I go against someone who has a [striking] background. I need to learn how to defend or strike. So that’s where I’m still putting the pieces of the puzzle together. But it does give me hope. I just have to keep myself humble and not think that, just because I’m good at grappling, I’m going to beat up everyone.”

If Danielle Kelly puts in as much time and effort in MMA as she did in jiu-jitsu, it won't be a surprise to see her conquer the circle as well. Though we are extremely impressed and entertained by her grappling matches, we are ultimately curious to find out how she'll fare in cage fighting. Only time will tell.