Izaak Michell says competetive nature came from his playing days in Australian football: "I was a midfielder"

Before shifting his focus to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Izaak Michell discovered his passion for competition by starting in a team sport. The Adelaide native fell in love with the physicality of Australian football, where he excelled as a midfielder during his early years.

The 25-year-old grappler shared this interesting tidbit about himself in an exclusive interview with ONE Championship:

"I was doing Australian football, or AFL. I was playing other sports at school, a lot of skateboarding, surfing, that sort of stuff. I found myself really enjoying the fighting aspect in the AFL matches. I liked getting in and under, that sort of thing. I was a midfielder and then I figured I might as well try to find some place I can actually just fight in general."

Defensive midfielders are known as no-nonsense enforcers whose primary job is to break up the opponents' attacks. In hindsight, it seems Izaak Michell carried the same mentality when he shifted to the grappling arts.

The ADCC veteran is known for his punishing style on the mats, which he'll look to demonstrate on the grand stage against Tye Ruotolo on April 5.

Izaak Michell helbent on dethroning Tye Ruotolo at ONE Fight Night 21

Izaak Michell's days on the football field helped him develop an innate toughness and iron-clad mindset, which should come in handy against the prolific Tye Ruotolo.

The Australian grappler will look to pry away the ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion's 26 pounds of gold in the penultimate match of ONE Fight Night 21: Eersel vs Nicolas on Prime Video at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The full event airs live on US Primetime free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.