Xande Ribeiro will now be facing fellow BJJ veteran Richie Martinez at Who’s Number One 27 on April 18th, 2025. It’s a very interesting matchup that will add a ton of name value to the card, as both men have been competing at the highest level for a very long time now. It’s surprising that they haven’t crossed paths before in fact, as their competitive careers span the same period of time. Where Ribeiro was both a gi and no gi grappler alternating between winning ADCC and IBJJF World Championship titles, Martinez chose a different path and focused on no gi exclusively at superfights or major events like EBI and Quintet.
Both men have slowed down in recent years and have been more selective about the events they compete in or the opponents they face. Ribeiro hasn’t competed outside of the masters division since his final appearance at ADCC 2022, while Martinez has only had a handful of matches in that same time. That’s actually one of the main points of interest for fans in this matchup; that opportunities to see either of these men compete are becoming increasingly few and far between. It’s also nice to see that FloGrappling has matched up competitors from the same generation, rather than trying to pit either of these men against the best in the world right now.
There are several other interesting matches announced for WNO 27 already and although Xande Ribeiro vs Richie Martinez will be an entertaining clash of styles, the biggest stakes are at play in the main event. That’s where Nicky Rodriguez will be getting his rematch against Kaynan Duarte, in an attempt to get revenge for their previous meetings. That would be a big-name matchup at any time in the last few years, but now more than ever. Duarte is the reigning ADCC absolute champion and Rodriguez won CJI at over 80kg; making this a kind of proxy battle between those two promotions.
FloGrappling announced the news that Xande Ribeiro was facing Richie Martinez in a recent post to their official Instagram account and the full Who’s Number One 27 event will be available to watch live on April 18th, 2025 on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
