Richie ‘Boogieman’ Martinez has just publicly announced that he will be retiring from professional Jiu-Jitsu competition, immediately after winning a gold medal at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2025. Martinez has been one of the most popular grapplers in the world over the last decade, having competed for a range of different promotions all around the world. He was a key member of the first wave of elite 10th Planet competitors that helped grow the affiliation in to one of the biggest there are, and he’s helped develop the next generation of their talent like Keith Krikorian and PJ Barch.
Although Martinez has still been an active competitor, he’s been competing much less frequently in the last few years. It’s understandable too, given that Martinez is now in his 40s and Jiu-Jitsu is incredibly tough on the body over a long enough timeframe. Still, Martinez travelled out to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete alongside several of his fellow 10th Planet representatives at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2025. He entered the Master 3 super-heavyweight division, competing alongside 18 other black belts in their early 40s. Martinez had to get through 4 matches in order to win the division, taking home what would be his second no gi world title in a masters division.
He put on an absolutely flawless performance in the bracket, showing off exactly the kind of unique attacks that he has become famous for. He used 10th Planet’s trademark rubber guard in every single match and finished all 4 opponents with the Carni, a variation on the omoplata from there. After winning his final match Martinez brought out his black belt and left it on the mats, a traditional move in Jiu-Jitsu that signifies an athlete is retiring from competition. Many retirements have not been permanent of course and the temptation to return is almost always there but as the head coach of a successful academy in his 40s, it seems like Martinez might actually stay put.
The full IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2025 event replay, including Richie ‘Boogieman’ Martinez retiring, is available to watch on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
