Kendall Reusing is eager to return to professional grappling and she has just the right opponent in mind, as she wants to challenge Nathiely De Jesus for the Who’s Number One heavyweight world title. Reusing has been out of action for a little over a year so far, as she’s been recovering from a pretty serious injury during that time. It all stems from ADCC 2022, when Reusing suffered a knee injury during her semi-final match with Rafaela Guedes and had to be carried off the mats. It was pretty clear that it was going to require some time off the mats given that Reusing couldn’t continue, and she hasn’t competed since that match.
She’s still been heavily involved with the professional grappling circuit despite not competing though, as she’s shone in her role as a commentator and interviewer for FloGrappling events. She was actually working at Who’s Number One 20: Night of Champions, when Guedes put the heavyweight title on the line against Nathiely De Jesus. It was a great match between two of the sport’s best competitors and neither woman was able to find the finish against the other, so in the end it was De Jesus who was declared the winner by decision.
It was a big moment for De Jesus, as she’s a veteran of the sport who has recently returned from her own break from the sport. She took some time away to have a child and came back with a vengeance earlier this year when she won the IBJJF Women’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. Now she’s added the WNO Heavyweight title to her collection and has proven that she’s just as impressive on the mats as ever. A match between Kendall Reusing and Nathiely De Jesus would undoubtedly prove to be very exciting and the fact that Reusing wants to take on such a big challenge in her first match in over a year shows just how game she is.
Kendall Reusing announced the news that her and Nathiely De Jesus had verbally agreed to a match for the Who’s Number One heavyweight world championship in a post to her official Instagram account:
