"You learn how to defend yourself" - Danielle Kelly reveals she initially wanted to learn taekwondo before discovering BJJ
Danielle Kelly never grew up with the dream of one day becoming an elite martial artist by the time she was in her mid-20s. This ended up being the path that she took but the journey to make it to this point wasn't without many twists and turns that could have seen her embark on a different journey in life.
Kelly has already spoken about how she first came to martial arts through needing confidence in her ability to defend herself against bullies.
Despite going on to become the inaugural ONE atomweight submission grappling world champion, jiu-jitsu was not her first option.
Kelly spoke on The Few Will Hunt Show about how it was her coach who ended up convincing her to learn jiu-jitsu after she looked to follow in her mother's footsteps by enrolling in taekwondo:
"So originally, I was going to try to find a place where I could work striking because my mom did taekwondo. And the coach at the time, he was like, oh, this is jiu-jitsu. He explained it to me, if someone takes you down, you learn how to defend yourself, sweep them, or defend yourself on the ground if someone's bigger or is on top of you."
Watch the full interview below:
The rest is history for Danielle Kelly
Who knows where Danielle Kelly would be today if she had stuck to her guns on wanting to train taekwondo like her mother instead?
These forks in the road are what make her life and career so inspirational for so many others who may find themselves in similar positions.
Kelly has never had it easy but she has been able to grow as a person, find an escape, and build a career all through that first training session of jiu-jitsu.
The road wasn't mapped out for Kelly but she found her way through and will now look to defend her title for the first time at ONE Fight Night 24 against Mayssa Bastos.
ONE Fight Night 24 will air live in US Primetime on Aug. 2 from Lumpinee Stadium, free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.