Danielle Kelly is one of the most recognizable faces of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well as one of the most successful submission grappling athletes today.
However, before she reached this level of success, Kelly had to work hard… Which also meant doing odd jobs, such as working as a ring girl.
She recalled working as a ring girl in a recent ONE Championship interview:
When I was doing ring girl-ing, for me, I was in a weird time in my life. And I wasn’t getting the proper training. So, it was hard for me to, like, focus on the fighting or Jiu-Jitsu aspects.
I got asked to do the ring girl thing so, like, why not. And I get to watch all the fights and it would be super motivating.
But you know, at the time, like, my coach wasn’t really helping me.
And would she take the job today? Kelly answered that question as well:
Look, would I do it now? No. Because I’d rather go in the cage and choke girls out, not pull up a sign. But that’s me.
Like, I will never judge anyone else’s life or like girls who are doing that. You know, good for them, they get paid for it.
But for me, it was a bad time.
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