‘This division is awesome’ – Amanda Leve breaks down 65kg at ADCC 2024
Top no-gi competitor Amanda Leve spoke to Grappling Insider about the 65kg division at the 2024 ADCC World Championships.
Amanda Leve stands a good chance to become the first-ever 65kg ADCC world champion.
A black belt under respected coach and ADCC judge Jay Regalbuto, Leve has quietly become one of the favorites in a division that’s loaded with top talent. After she was forced to end her promising, 2-0 professional MMA career due to health issues, Leve jumped into the +65kg division at the 2023 ADCC East Coast Trials on a whim and ended up winning the tournament with a 100 percent submission rate.
Next, at the 2024 ADCC West Coast Trials, she kept her perfect submission rate intact en route to the +65kg final where she met IBJJF no-gi world champion Elizabeth Mitrovic. With just minutes remaining in that contest, Leve looked well on her way to winning and punching her ticket to her second ADCC World Championships, but suffered an unexpected knee injury, giving the victory to Mitrovic.
Despite officially coming up short at Trials, Leve did enough to earn an invite to the 2024 ADCC World Championships where she will compete in the 65kg division.
The 27-year-old standout recently spoke to Grappling Insider about her training and preparation for ADCC, her unforgettable victory over Gabi Garcia, her thoughts on the Craig Jones Invitational, and her favorite guard passing technique.
Check out the full interview below.
While she was initially disappointed not to be competing in the heavyweight division, Leve now admits that she’s looking forward to no shortage of interesting matchups at 65kg.
Her potential opponents include 2017 ADCC world champion Beatriz Mesquita, 2022 ADCC silver medalist Brianna Ste-Marie, young New Wave phenom Helena Crevar, and Ana Carolina Vieira – who defeated Leve at the 2019 ADCC World Championships.
Leve broke down the division:
“It is so stacked. It’s definitely one of the more exciting female brackets in general. I’m excited to go against Bia because she’s so aggressive. Brianna Ste-Marie is so technical. Helena, she just gets so much attention because she’s so technical and she’s a young up-and-comer. And then Ana Carolina is in it. She beat me in my first ADCC so I’d love to run that back. Just this division in general – all the girl’s divisions are stacked – but this division is awesome.”
A talented takedown artist and top-position grappler, Leve looks to be the division’s strongest wrestler – a key skill set under ADCC rules.
We asked Leve if she is the best wrestler at 65kg:
“I would say so. I know Ana Carolina has pretty decent wrestling. Bia is just very strong on her feet. I wouldn’t say she’s very going for takedowns but she’s very defensively sound. But I think I have the best wrestling overall.”
Leve says she’s evolved by leaps and bounds since her first ADCC appearance in 2019.
Notably, she’s now much more willing to take risks in pursuit of the finish:
“I think I’m way more willing to pull the trigger now than I was then. I was way more hesitant then. I was definitely in that mode of fighting not to lose instead of fighting to win, which I think is a big game change mentally that I have made in the last four years. It’s like ‘Alright, if we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna send it,’ instead of playing the safe game. I’d rather go out and get submitted going for something rather than playing a game like that.”
Ultimately, Leve credits much of her recent success in grappling to a key shift in her mindset. Rather than tying her identity to winning and losing, she’s developed an attitude of thankfulness.
She described what would be a perfect weekend at the 2024 ADCC World Championships:
“A perfect weekend for me would be making sure that I’m having fun… At the end of the day, it’s a competition, and most people wish they were in the position that I’m getting to be in right now. I get to compete in ADCC. Most people dream of that, and a lot of people don’t even get to see that. I just have to remember how fortunate I am and that, again, this doesn’t define me at the end of the day.”
How to watch: Amanda Leve will compete at the 2024 ADCC World Championships, which take place on August 17-18 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will air live on FloGrappling (subscription required).
