"I really am truly blessed" - Izaak Michell honored to hoist the Australian flag high in ONE Championship
Australian Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard Izaak Michell has extra motivation to step into his impending debut on the global stage at ONE Fight Night 21 this Friday, April 5.
Apart from a golden opportunity to open his promotional account with a shot at Tye Ruotolo's ONE welterweight submission grappling world title, the Adelaide native is grateful to represent his nation on the grandest platform of martial arts inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Relaying his views on representing Australia in an interview with ONE Championship, Izaak Michell offered:
"Oh, definitely, yeah. I really am truly blessed to have been born in Australia, and that's something we should all take a second to contemplate about being born here. It's truly an amazing country."
While his BJJ journey has taken him to North America, where he honed his craft under Renzo Gracie BJJ black belt and grappling icon John Danaher in New York, the 25-year-old prefers to spread the gospel of jiu-jitsu, where he was born and raised.
After all, the grappling discipline remains relatively new in certain areas, which the ONE debutant hopes to change in the coming years.
In the same interview, he added:
"I'm really looking forward to actually settling down in Australia, opening up a school and all these things, which, you know, like, ONE Championship coming up, gives me the opportunity to get the funds to open up a school and do all these other things as well."
He added:
"So yeah, really grateful for this opportunity at ONE, and yeah, to represent Australia as well."
Izaak Michell wants to inspire the next generation of BJJ stars in Australia
Taking on the responsibility to represent a nation could be an arduous undertaking, but Izaak Michell does not have second thoughts about it.
The 2021 IBJJF No-Gi gold medalist (at brown belt) believes he will find the perfect transition between displaying his ground game acumen on a competition stage and the mats back home when he calls it a day, all for the sake of inspiring the next set of BJJ athletes in Australia.
Izaak Michell concluded:
"I also want to spend the time after my professional career giving back, especially in Australia where I can open up a huge school and I can help and kind of give back everything that I learned from being overseas for so long."
North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire ONE Fight Night 21 card live and for free in U.S. primetime this Friday, April 5.