“I really am truly blessed” – Izaak Michell honored to hoist the Australian flag high in ONE Championship

Izaak Michell, an expert in Australian Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is even more determined to make his debut on the global stage at ONE Fight Night 21 this upcoming Friday, April 5.

Despite the fact that he has a chance to make his promotional debut and challenge Tye Ruotolo for the ONE welterweight submission grappling world title, the Adelaide native is appreciative of the opportunity to represent his country on the prestigious stage of martial arts at the renowned Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Izaak Michell expressed his views on representing Australia, stating:

“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.”

Despite having trained under Renzo Gracie BJJ black belt and grappling icon John Danaher in New York, the 25-year-old chooses to share the teachings of jiu-jitsu in his home country, where he was born and raised, even though he has also had the opportunity to train in North America.

Despite being relatively new in certain areas, the grappling discipline remains an important focus for the ONE debutant, who is determined to bring about change in the coming years.

During the same interview, he also stated:

“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 made an addition:

“So yeah, really grateful for this opportunity at ONE, and yeah, to represent Australia as well.”

Izaak Michell’s Mission to Foster the Future of BJJ in Australia

Assuming the duty of representing a country may be a challenging task, but Izaak Michell has no doubts about it.

The brown belt who won the 2021 IBJJF No-Gi gold medal is confident that he will seamlessly transition from showcasing his ground game skills in competitions to practicing on the mats at home. He plans to eventually retire from competing in order to motivate and inspire the future generation of BJJ athletes in Australia.

After careful consideration, Izaak Michell came to the conclusion:

“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 viewers who have an active subscription to Amazon Prime Video will have the opportunity to watch the entire ONE Fight Night 21 event live and at no cost during U.S. primetime on Friday, April 5th.