Elisabeth Clay has just become the first woman to submit Gabrieli Pessanha in competition at the black belt level, beating her in the final of the absolute division at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2025. It’s a truly remarkable feat, as Pessanha has been one of the most dominant forces in Jiu-Jitsu over the last few years and only 3 women have ever beaten her at all. Across that time she’s won ten gold medals at the IBJJF World Championship and although most of her career has been spent focusing on the gi, she transitioned to no gi last year and found the same level of success; winning double gold at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2024.
Clay has some history with Pessanha too, as they’ve met in the gi twice before and Pessanha had won both matches by submission. Clay was at a pretty big weight disadvantage in each of their matches though, as Clay generally competes at either middleweight or medium-heavyweight and Pessanha is exclusively a super-heavyweight. That size advantage combined with her dominance over the last few years meant that Pessanha was coming in as the favorite to win the absolute division at No Gi Worlds. She had already won the super-heavyweight division too, while Clay had won at middleweight by the time they crossed paths.
Clay was on an amazing run though, as she submitted all 4 of the opponents in her weight class and all 3 of the opponents prior to Pessanha in the absolute. Among her absolute victories, she also submitted reigning the ADCC 2024 double champion Adele Fornarino with a guillotine. Clay got her final match against Pessanha off to a great start too, scoring two points for a sweep and another two when she had a heel hook locked in and they rolled out of bounds. With a 4-0 lead on the scoreboard, Clay went back to attacking Pessanha’s legs and caught her in another heel hook. Pessanha couldn’t escape or roll out of bounds this time though, and she was forced to tap.
The full IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2025 event replay, including Elisabeth Clay submitting Gabrieli Pessanha, is available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
