Elisabeth Clay’s conversation on the Weslee Weighs In podcast about balancing a career and family in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu took an unexpected turn when the topic shifted to training with her husband…
And specifically, his early refusal to tap to her.
Clay, a six-time No-Gi World Champion and one of the top grapplers in the world, has trained alongside her husband, professional grappler Danilo Moreira, since the two met in 2020.
Their styles on the mat differ significantly, and so, in the early days, did their willingness to tap.
Much of that came down to Danilo’s background:
It was especially when I met him. He really only trained gi. He’s like: “I’m not tapping to a girl.”
And (it went) pop, pop, pop.And then I let go and he’s like: “I didn’t tap.”
Oh my, dude, your knee popped like six times.
The rough edges went both directions.
Danilo’s tendency to finish submissions aggressively caused real injuries of his own:
He broke the bone in my leg from snapping a toe hold…
Bro, you just snapped the bone in my leg. Calm down.
You can go hard. You don’t need to snap my leg.
Clay said Danilo has come a long way since then:
He’s still a little bad about it, nowhere near like he used to.
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