Gabi Garcia Loses!

This might be the biggest grappling upset since Fedor Emelianenko was defeated by Bulgaria’s Blagoi Ivanov in the semifinals of the 2008 World Combat Sambo Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Jiu-jitsu titan Gabi Garcia, widely considered one of the most dominant female grapplers in history — thanks in no small part to her 6’2”, 230-pound frame — was bounced from the FloGrappling WNO Championships last weekend in Austin, Texas, after getting out-grappled by PFL lightweight Amanda Leve.

“I always wanted that match with Gabi because I wanted to see how I could do against her,” Leve, 24, said after the match (her full interview here). “I wanna start going towards MMA and I was using this as my last big jiu-jitsu tournament. Ending it like this was kind of like a ‘Hell Yeah!’ kind of deal.”

Leve (1-0) made her pro MMA debut last August, choking out Miranda Barber at PFL 8 in Atlantic City. Garcia, 35, holds a 6-0 (1 NC) record in MMA but has not competed since late 2018, where she finished Barbara Nepomuceno by way of keylock for RIZIN FF.