The WNO Championships are almost complete as the fourth division, women’s Heavyweight, has just been fully revealed. Ever since the first announcement of the men’s Lightweight division, it’s been made abundantly clear that the Who’s Number One Championships are not just any old tournament event and the promotion is aiming to put on one of the best competitions physically possible. Then, when the promotion revealed the first of two female divisions, it seemed as though they weren’t just limiting that ambition to the men’s brackets either.
The men’s Middleweight bracket soon followed and featured a number of elite ADCC veterans, with the women’s Heavyweight division now following suit. No female Heavyweight division would be complete without one of the greatest female competitors in the history of the sport, four-time ADCC world champion Gabi Garcia. Naturally she’s immediately the favorite to take home the grand prize here but Elisabeth Clay has been in phenomenal form of late and was able to take Garcia all the way to a decision the last time they met.
Interestingly, Clay lost her last match for the first time in a dozen matches and the woman who defeated her will also be competing, three-time IBJJF world champion Ana Carolina Vieira. Alongside that, the woman that Clay defeated in the finals of the IBJJF no gi pan-ams this year, Kendall Reusing, will be eager to avenge that loss and prove that she’s an IBJJF no gi world champion for a reason.
They aren’t the only potential interesting rematches here however as our pick for last year’s breakthrough grappler of the year, Rafaela Guedes, and the only two women to hold a win over her at black belt will both be competing. Studio 84 competitor Amanda Leve was the only women to interrupt the perfect start to Guedes’ career, and her last fight saw her be on the receiving end of an upset courtesy of professional MMA fighter Erin Harpe. Finally, the division is rounded out by the reigning Submission Underground absolute champion, Amanda Loewen.
The full women’s Heavyweight edition of the WNO Championships will be available to watch live on September 25th and 26th on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
