The highly anticipated match between Gabi Garcia and Elisabeth Clay at tonight’s Who’s Number One went the distance in a battle of guard passing versus retention that left both competitors exhausted by the end of the fifteen-minute match.
Clay immediately pulled guard, bringing her legs high on Garcia’s body before Garcia decided to sprawl inside her closed guard. Garcia managed to open up Clay’s guard, moving into half-guard and putting steady pressure on her opponent. Garcia moved past Clay’s legs, and Clay turtled up before managing to recover her closed guard. Garcia again transitioned to half-guard, but Clay again managed to get both her legs around Garcia before then switching to butterfly guard. Garcia got underneath Clay’s legs to pass, and Clay briefly turtled up before getting a knee shield in and managing to recover her closed guard, trapping one of Garcia’s arms with an overhook.
Even as Garcia again opened Clay’s guard and worked to pass, Clay’s flexibility and guard retention came through, and Garcia still hadn’t managed to pass Clay’s guard with three minutes left. Clay snatched one of Garcia’s legs from open guard and it looked for a moment like she might go for a leg lock. However, Garcia defended and again tried to use pressure passing to gain a dominant position. As the match went into the final minute, Garcia pressured down, driving her shoulder into Clay’s face, but then Clay maneuvered herself into an omoplata attempt, and the match finished with Garcia defending and Clay trying to finish the submission.
The match went to decision, and Garcia was declared the winner.
