Danielle Kelly on possible Mikey Musumeci vs Demetrious Johnson grappling match

ONE Championship star Danielle Kelly is excited about the possibility of a submission grappling showcase between ONE’s first submission grappling champion Mikey Musumeci and the reigning ONE flyweight world titleholder Demetrious Johnson.

Following his win over Cleber Sousa at ONE on Prime Video 2 to become a ONE world champion, Musumeci respectfully called out ‘Mighty Mouse’ believing that the two coming together would put more eyes on the sport of grappling as a whole. It didn’t take long for Johnson to respond, accepting Musumeci’s challenge.

When and where that contest happens is yet to be determined, but the possibility has everyone talking about it, including Danielle Kelly. During an interview with ONE Championship, Kelly shared her thoughts on the highly-anticipated grappling clash.

“DJ is a phenomenal fighter, he's a champion, but he doesn't focus on ground jiu-jitsu like that, maybe just for MMA. Because from his last fight, when we all went to the watch party, he did really well with getting up on his feet from half-guard, so it was like really good stuff. He's also a wrestler too and an MMA fighter, so they work on that a lot.”

Kelly added:

“DJ, I don't know what he has competed in before. So I think when he and Mikey compete against each other, I think it'd be like a black belt versus a [brown] belt. Unless Mikey is just being nice because it was a respectful request.”

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Danielle Kelly preparing for transition to MMA in 2023

Danielle Kelly signed with ONE Championship in early 2022 and made her debut for the promotion in spectacular fashion at the 10th-anniversary spectacular ONE X in March. After earning a $50,000 bonus for her dominant performance against Mei Yamaguchi, Kelly has fans excited to see her return to the Circle.

Nearly eight months later and fans are still waiting, but it may not be much longer as Kelly revealed she plans to be back inside the Circle before the end of the year. As far as what 2023 will bring, Kelly spoke with MMA journalist The Schmo to share her anticipated timeline for an eagerly-awaited transition to mixed martial arts.

“Hopefully soon, I’ll have like one or two more jiu-jitsu matches and then maybe I’ll focus on my first MMA fight next year. I just want to compete in jiu-jitsu first, and then sometime next year I want to make the move to MMA.”