Who won Gabi Garcia vs. Barbara Nepomuceno? The fight that sparked 'transgender' rumors about Garcia

Barbara Nepomuceno succumbed to a first-round submission loss to Gabi Garcia at Rizin 14 back in December 2018. While it has been more than four years since the bout, highlights from the fight have been making the rounds on social media for all the wrong reasons.

Highlights of Gabi Garcia vs. Barbara Nepomuceno have been shared with a false narrative on social media that Garcia is a transgender athlete. The recording, shared on Twitter on March 11 with the caption “trans vs woman”, has collectively amassed more than 4.5 million views.

Garcia was the victim of a trend of propogating fake news online. The post outlines the prejudice against the transgender community. Garcia's fight against Barbara Nepomuceno is being wrongly used in the ongoing debate of whether transgender athletes should compete against cisgender competitors.

Gabi Garcia is seen as one of the biggest names in the history of women's jiu-jitsu, with countless titles in various tournaments and also in the ADCC, the biggest grappling competition in the world. She is a nine-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion and a four-time ADCC submission fighting world champion.

Geopolitical journalist Patrick Henningsen, however, questioned the significant strength and size advantage Garcia possesses over her opponents:

"Ok, I’m told that Gabi Garcia is a biological female. That said, should SHE be allowed to pummel all comers in MMA, or is there some reasonable threshold of physical advantage which is necessary to prevent serious injury or death?"

Check out the tweet below:

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Barbara Nepomuceno rallied for a fight against Gabi Garcia in 2018

Barbara Nepomuceno is a prolific kickboxer on the Brazilian amateur kickboxing circuit, having won over 60 fights as an amateur competitor.

Nepomuceno is 5 ft. 10 inches tall and weighs in at around 198 pounds for fights. She predominantly competed in kickboxing in the super middleweight division. She claimed in an interview with MMA Fighting that while she can cut to 185 or 170 pounds, competing in the openweight category is what motivates her.

She also expressed an interest in fighting grappling legend Gabi Garcia, stating:

“She has faced [my challenge] as something personal. I never wanted this fight because I wanted to beat her up or something like that. I want to fight. I wanted to be in a big promotion to show my work, and it was through this challenge that my management team MTK got me a contract with ROAD FC. If this fight happens, it would be really cool."

Previewing the matchup at the time, she added:

“I see myself beating her with punches and kicks, where I’m good at. Since she started to get involved with MMA she has been evolving, that’s clear. I can’t come here and say she wouldn’t be able to fight me [standing], but her specialty is on the ground and mine is on the feet. I believe in my strategy, the way I fight. It’s a fight, if one hand with a four-ounce glove connects… I believe in what I do and I see myself defeating her with strikes.”