After an exceptional year in which she went 4-1 against black belts with three submission victories, Elisabeth Clay has been promoted to black belt.

Clay has been on the hunt for black belts throughout 2020, and has been victorious against most of them. In June, she submitted Chelsah Lyons with a heel hook. In July, she submitted the highly-decorated Luiza Monteiro. Later that month, she scored a gogoplata victory over Maggie Grindatti. Clay’s only loss in 2020 came via decision in a 15-minute sub-only match at Who’s Number One, where she challenged the only woman to win ADCC four times, Gabi Garcia.

Clay returned to her winning ways earlier this month at Subversiv 4, submitting all three of her opponents, including yet another black belt, Tara White.

Watch: Lis Clay vs Chelsah Lyons at Who's Number One: Gordon Ryan vs Kyle Boehm

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Clay has climbed her way through black belt opponents relying, primarily, on her heel hook skills. But that’s far from her only weapon. 

Clay began her rise to stardom at No-Gi Worlds nearly a year ago, where she achieved double-gold in the brown belt division with eight submissions in as many matches. In those divisions she demonstrated her talent for finishing opponents via techniques other than heel hook.

She has a remarkably flexible guard, lending to intricate variations of gogoplata techniques which she has utilized to submit Brittney Elkin and Maggie Grindatti. She has a mean guillotine, which she used to submit Grindatti at No-Gi Worlds last year. And her straight ankle lock is every bit as threatening as her heel hook; she applied successful footlocks in three of her eight victories at No-Gi Worlds, including two victories over Rafaela Guedes.

Read: Road To Double Gold: Elisabeth Clay Subs Eight At No-Gi Worlds

Since that time, she’s become a household name, and she’s earned her way toward the top of the no-gi rankings, where she is listed as the no. 2 female competitor over 62 kg.

The IBJJF announced that it will authorize heel hooks for brown and black belt no-gi competitors in January.

Even without that attack, she’s a threat to everyone on the no-gi scene. But now that she can fall back on her heel hook pedigree, she could quickly assume the role of a favorite in the medium heavyweight division in IBJJF no-gi events. In that division, some of her cohorts would include Vedha Toscano, Luanna Alzuguir, Claudia Do Val and Andressa Cintra.

With star power and momentum — and loads of skill — behind her, she'll be a fierce addition to the black belt ranks.