Gabi Garcia is such a dominant force in the women’s heavyweight division that she is always the favorite to win and only five women had ever defeated her in almost a hundred competitive BJJ matches, until Amanda Leve that is. With four ADCC and six IBJJF world championships, Garcia was the most accomplished woman in the entire lineup of the WNO Championships heavyweight division and again, she entered the tournament as the favorite to take home gold. She came up against Leve in the opening round and despite her status as an accomplished competitor in her own right, there were very few who would’ve picked Leve to win against Garcia.
Amanda Leve put on an amazing show however as she spent the majority of the match either taking Garcia’s back, or attempting to sink in a choke to finish the fight from there. Although she couldn’t quite manage to finish the fight that’s definitely nothing to hold against her considering that Garcia has never actually been finished in black belt competition at any point in her career. In fact, a lot of Garcia’s losses have been by the narrowest of margins like Mackenzie Dern winning by a single penalty point. This is the first time in a long time that Garcia hasn’t just been beaten, but she’s been beaten convincingly and there really wasn’t a moment that she looked like she could get her game going.
The full replay of the women’s Heavyweight edition of the WNO Championships, including Amanda Leve defeating Gabi Garcia, will be available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
