Why Danielle Kelly chose to sign with ONE Championship over other grappling promotions

Competitive grappling has changed a ton in recent years. Now, more than ever, athletes are able to make money competing, as there’s a bigger appetite for the sport and there are many opportunities for grapplers.

Danielle Kelly, one of the most popular female grapplers today, is one of several top jiu-jitsu athletes who have chosen to sign with combat sports promotion ONE Championship. These deals are exclusive, making it an interesting choice given the many options in promotions today.

For Kelly, who returns on Sept. 29 in a rematch against Jessa Khan for the inaugural ONE women’s atomweight submission grappling title, signing with ONE Championship was a no-brainer.

“Well, for the first thing, ONE has come out with submission grappling strictly,” Kelly told MMA Junkie. “They have different Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA and the newest is grappling. I was the first women’s grappling match, which is really cool. I got provided with the opportunity and I felt I could grow the division. I feel like my name, everyone is calling me out, I feel like I’m not “the face of women’s grappling” but I sort of am and that’s why I feel like I can help out bringing women’s sports and views to the grappling matches because most casuals, which kind of sucks, most casuals think jiu-jitsu matches are boring in general. …

“Also, I feel like ONE is trying to push women’s jiu-jitsu and fighting, whereas other promotions they’re not pushing women’s jiu-jitsu, it’s just the guys, and me being a girl, I like that. ONE is pushing women’s sports.”

One of Kelly’s main reasons relies on ONE Championship’s grappling rule set. She thinks they’re making it more appealing for the general masses with the way they’re presenting it.

She thinks that’s been an area many promotions have failed, as their ruleset doesn’t attract non-grappling viewers.

“When you watch regular, I can’t say other jiu-jitsu tournaments, but their rules, and they pull double guard, and sometimes they just don’t care about takedowns,” Kelly explained. “The casual viewer that watches MMA, they find that really boring, and I feel like with ONE they want you to push the pace. They don’t want you to sit on your butt anymore and try to stall.

“To a hobbyist that’s in jiu-jitsu, they understand those rules. But to a casual, they’ll think it’s boring. So it’s a balance with jiu-jitsu. MMA is always exciting to a casual, so jiu-jitsu is still trying to get up there.”