"I love to grapple" - Angela Lee responds to Danielle Kelly's respectful callout

Angela Lee has held the ONE women’s atomweight world title since 2016. In that time, she has received every kind of callout Her latest challenge, however, is a bit different.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Brazilian jiu-jitsu star Danielle Kelly called out Lee in the most respectful manner possible. It was almost too wholesome for the world of combat sports.

Kelly said that “it would be cool” to have a grappling match with, arguably, ONE Championship’s most dominant world champion.

In an interview with the same media outfit, Lee had a similar response to Kelly’s challenge. The mom champ said the ONE Championship newcomer’s callout would be the perfect avenue for her to go back to her grappling roots.

The 25-year-old holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but hasn’t competed in submission grappling matches on the professional scene, opting instead to jump into a career in mixed martial arts.

The atomweight queen said:

“I'd love to, you know, I love to grapple, you know. As soon as I turned 18, I was focusing entirely on MMA. But I didn't get a chance to do a lot of the grappling competitions that I would've liked. So I think it would be cool for sure.”

Check out Lee's response in the video below:

Lee, who holds eight submission wins on her record, was just 18 years old when she became a professional MMA fighter. She has fought for ONE Championship since her first match in May 2015.

At 19, Angela Lee became the first and only ONE women’s atomweight world champion when she beat Mei Yamaguchi in May 2016.

Kelly, meanwhile, competed in her first submission grappling match for ONE Championship at ONE X against, as fate would have it, Yamaguchi.

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Angela Lee proud to see ONE Championship’s push for submission grappling

While ONE Championship hosts some of the world’s best MMA fighters and martial artists, the promotion has recently signed a bevy of grappling stars.

The Asian sports giant pushed hard for submission grappling and signed legends like Gordon Ryan and Andre Galvao in 2021, as well as Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida, among others.

ONE X featured two submission grappling matches. The first one was between Yamaguchi vs. Kelly, while the other featured Galvao and Reinier de Ridder, the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion.

Angela Lee said that witnessing how ONE has promoted the grappling arts is nothing but impressive.

"I think it's cool. They're definitely going to be capturing a whole other audience with the jiu-jitsu fans and the No-Gi grapplers. So I think that's really smart, it's a way to capture another audience.”

Perhaps will see Lee enter the circle for some submission grappling down the line.