Felipe Pena and Luke Griffith will now be facing one another at Who’s Number One (WNO) 28 on June 13th, 2025 and the promotion’s heavyweight title is on the line. It’s a superb matchup between two of the best heavyweight grapplers in the world today and there’s even a storyline leading up to it, as this will be a rematch. The two men met for the first time last year the biggest stage imaginable, in the final of the over 99kg division at ADCC 2024. Although Griffith hit a takedown and almost took Pena’s back at the beginning, Pena rallied and returned the favor with a back-take of his own before submitting Griffith with a rear-naked choke.
It was the perfect end to a stacked division, with twists and turns before Pena was crowned the champion. Obviously Griffith will be hungry for revenge when they cross paths again in just a few weeks’ time, but Pena has his own reasons for winning beyond simply going 2-0 against him. Griffith is one of the best newly-rebranded Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu competitors and Pena has plenty of beef and a long-running rivalry with the most successful man to come from that team; Gordon Ryan. With the Pena vs Ryan record currently standing at 2-2, a win over Griffith could be the perfect thing to set up the deciding match between them.
This other connection to Ryan that this match has is through the title itself, as it was Ryan’s right up until the announcement of this match. He submitted Pedro Marinho to win the title almost three years ago now and has defended the title several times since then. The most recent time that Ryan was seen on the WNO mats, he was racking up his third title defense by submitting Josh Saunders at their 24th event. Ryan has vacated the belt in order for it to be put on the line in this match and although he’s focusing on the growth of his team and his recurring health issues, it’s not hard to imagine him wanting it back at some point in the future if it isn’t held by his teammate.
The full WNO 28 live event, including the heavyweight title-fight between Felipe Pena and Luke Griffith, is available to watch on June 13th, 2025 on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
