Danielle Kelly reveals she almost left BJJ for wrestling in college: “This is what I want to do”

The history of women’s submission grappling would’ve changed drastically if Danielle Kelly hadn’t decided to return to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Kelly is now the inaugural and reigning ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion, and it was the product of a life-changing decision she made in college.

In an interview with the Chewjitsu Podcast, Kelly revealed that she fell in love with wrestling in high school and thought she’d remain in the sport when she got to university.

However, Kelly decided that BJJ was the way to go and thus born a highly influential career that the younger generation of grapplers are looking to.

She said:

“Eventually, I fell in love with wrestling, and I thought I was going to do it in college. I ended up not doing it in college. I started doing training again, and then I think I had like a do a wake-up call because I had really bad things happen to me like when I was barely 21, 20 years old. Twenty-one, still in college, and I took almost a year off of jiu-jitsu, and I think when I came back was when reality set like this is what I want to do.”

Kelly’s judgment ultimately paid off, and she’s now one of the faces of submission grappling and BJJ.

After a stellar career in the BJJ competitions, Kelly signed with ONE Championship, where she’s now building a legacy on the global stage.

The Philadelphia native is currently undefeated in the promotion with a 3-0-1 record.

Her latest match saw her vanquish old tormentor Jessa Khan with a thrilling unanimous decision victory at ONE Fight Night 14 to capture the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world title.

Watch Kelly's entire interview below: