Philadelphia’s Danielle Kelly recently won the first female submission grappling title at ONE Fight Night 14, and no one was rooting harder for her than her longtime friend Suzie Pepe.

Pepe is a Penn State Abington graduate who first noticed Kelly when she was taking classes at Pepe’s Philadelphia area Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio.

Since then, the two have formed an unbreakable bond as Pepe watched her young friend become a world class fighter, writes Anders Pryor for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kelly got her start in martial arts at the age of 9 when her father signed her up for karate so she could learn self-defense. A quiet child, Kelly was getting bullied at school.

But it was when she learned Brazilian jiu-jitsu that she really fell in love with combat sports.

The friendship between Pepe and Kelly was really cemented during their long talks when Kelly would come visit Pepe while she was working at Wawa.

Pepe learned that while Kelly was a fierce force to be reckoned with on the mat, in her daily life she wasn’t as confident.

“She’s timid, but I don’t think it hinders her at all,” Pepe said. “I think it makes her a better fighter and makes her fights more interesting.”

Read more about Suzie Pepe and Danielle Kelly’s friendship in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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