Elisabeth Clay

Main Achievements

Black Belt Accolades:

• 4x 1st Place — IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2021 / 2022 / 2024 / 2025)
• 3x 1st Place — IBJJF Pan American Championship No-Gi (2021 / 2022 / 2024)
• 1st Place — IBJJF Pan American Championship Gi (2023)
• 1st Place — CBJJ Brazilian National Champion (2025)
• 1st Place — Polaris Grand Prix Champion (2023)
• 1st Place — Fight 2 Win Heavyweight Champion (2021)
• 2nd Place — IBJJF World Championship Gi (2025 Silver Medalist)
• 2nd Place — IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2021 Absolute Division Silver Medalist)

Colored Belt Accolades:

• 1st Place — IBJJF World Championship No-Gi (2018 purple / 2019 brown belt)
• 1st Place — IBJJF World Championship Gi (2018 blue belt weight & absolute Double-Gold)
• 1st Place — ADCC West Coast Trials Champion (2017)
• 1st Place — IBJJF Pan American Championship Gi (2018 blue belt absolute)
• 2x 1st Place — IBJJF Pan American Championship No-Gi (2018 blue / 2019 purple belt)

Overview

Elisabeth Clay is an elite American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and one of the most dominant, feared submission hunters in modern grappling history. Representing the Ares BJJ association, Clay emerged from a unique developmental background to build an astonishing competitive footprint across the international circuit. Renowned for her uncompromisingly aggressive style, specialized closed guard mechanisms, and high-percentage lower-limb attack loops, she stands as a multi-time World and Pan American champion in the premier divisions of the sport.

Early Life: Gymnastics Foundations to Alaska Mats

Elisabeth Ann Clay was born on June 10, 2000, in Katy, Texas, residing there until her family transitioned through a brief two-year residency in Oklahoma before ultimately relocating north to Soldotna, Alaska. An exceptionally active, highly competitive child, Elisabeth formally initiated rigorous training in artistic gymnastics at just 18 months old. Guided by a profound childhood aspiration of representing the United States at the Olympic Games, she dedicated her formative years to hyper-disciplined physical preparation, building exceptional baseline core strength, kinetic flexibility, and spatial awareness.

When the geographic reality of rural Alaska restricted her access to elite, Olympic-tier gymnastics coaching centers, Clay was forced to look for an alternative structural athletic outlet. At age 12, she walked into a local regional mixed martial arts club. The raw physics and tight, leverage-centric dynamics of ground combat immediately resonated with her, convincing her to abandon gymnastics entirely to dedicate her focus to the grappling arts.

The Rise of an Alaskan Prodigy

Elisabeth devoted all of her spare hours to perfecting her ground systems under her first developmental coach, Mason Ryder Spadafore. Seeking further tactical expansion after four years of regional study, she joined Jordan Kontra’s Legacy Jiu-Jitsu in Anchorage, a prominent affiliate center of the global Ares BJJ Association. Under Kontra’s guidance, an astonishing 16-year-old Clay shocked international analysts by conquering the adult division at the prestigious 2017 ADCC West Coast Trials—widely considered one of the most physically grueling and technically demanding tournament brackets in combat sports.

Recognizing her world-class potential, Clay relocated to Modesto, California, in 2018 to fully integrate her home training camp into the Ares Jiu-Jitsu Headquarters under the masterful instruction of world-class black belts Osvaldo “Queixinho” Moizinho and Samir Chantre. Though familial obligations required her to temporarily return to Alaska in 2019, she maintained a rigorous interstate commuter training loop to prepare for major tournaments. Following a thoroughly dominant run on the professional circuit—where she frequently compiled a legendary resume of defeating elite black belts while still a colored belt—she was officially promoted to the rank of black belt in November 2020.

Professional Dominance and Submission Architecture

Since stepping into the black belt elite division, Clay has established herself as an absolute terror, particularly within elite No-Gi tournament formats. Her tactical reputation is forged on a fierce “submission-only” mindset; she utilizes an incredibly tight, heavy Closed Guard system to isolate joints with absolute authority. Her calculated mechanical precision with specialized leg locks—specifically crushing Toe Holds and modern Heel Hooks—accounts for an astonishing portion of her high career finish rate.

By capturing consecutive gold medals at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championships, the Pan American Championships, and professional cash-prize showcases like the Polaris Grand Prix and Fight 2 Win, Elisabeth Clay has solidified her legacy. She stands as a premier example of a modern, home-grown American martial artist who combined childhood athletic frameworks with innovative mechanics to permanently rule the highest tiers of international submission grappling.