Rafaela Guedes has been booked to defend her Who’s Number One heavyweight title against Nathiely De Jesus at WNO 20: Night of Champions on October 1st, 2023. This will be the first time that these two women have met in black belt competition and seeing as they’re both among the best female grapplers on the planet, it’s sure to be an exciting match. It’s not the only title-fight booked for the event either, as the name would suggest. Gordon Ryan is returning to competition to defend his heavyweight title and Pedro Marinho is putting the light-heavyweight belt on the line.
Guedes actually won the Who’s Number One heavyweight title back at the WNO Championships event, where she defeated three top competitors in order to be the first woman to wear the belt. By the time she steps on the mat against De Jesus it’ll actually be just over two years since she won the title and she hasn’t defended it since then. It’s not as if she’s been inactive by any stretch of the imagination though of course, as she competed in both the ADCC and IBJJF World Championship last year.
Guedes took home a silver and bronze medal from the IBJJF world championship, shortly before winning a silver medal at ADCC 2022. This will be the first time that she’s competed this year though, whereas De Jesus has had a slightly different path to this match. She took some time away from the sport to have a child before returning earlier this year, winning the women’s heavyweight IBJJF Grand Prix in her first trip back to the mats. It’ll be interesting to see who will be able to come out on top but either way, the fans will be the real winners when these two women meet on the mats.
FloGrappling announced the news that Nathiely De Jesus was going to challenge Rafaela Guedes at WNO 20: Night of Champions in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
