Maroulis, Martinez to meet at 57 kg in women’s freestyle at 2025 Final X in Newark, N.J.

A legend of the sport returns to face a rising star in the women’s freestyle 57 kg series at 2025 Final X. Three-time Olympic medalist Helen Maroulis stands opposite 2025 U.S. Open champion Amanda Martinez under the bright lights at Prudential Center on June 14.

The pair have wrestled against each other once on the Senior level—Maroulis took the win by fall in 2:39 at the 2022 Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series event held in Tunis, Tunisia. Maroulis secured three first period takedowns and finished the match with a bar arm pinning combination. Final X offers Martinez the opportunity to display her technical development in the three years since this result.

One of the most decorated U.S. women wrestlers of all-time, Maroulis made history at the 2024 Olympic Games by becoming the first three-time Olympic medalist in U.S. women’s wrestling with a bronze medal in Paris, France. She previously won Olympic bronze in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, and Olympic gold in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her gold at the Rio Games was the landmark first women’s wrestling gold for Team USA. Maroulis automatically qualified for Final X by earning a medal at the 2024 Olympic Games.

In addition to her three Olympic medals, Maroulis owns seven Senior World medals—three gold, two silver and two bronze. She is an 11-time U.S. Senior World Team member, three-time Pan American champion, three-time U20 World medalist and six-time U.S. Open champion.

While not to the extent of Maroulis, Martinez has seen her share of international success. Martinez earned a spot on the 2021 U23 World Team where she finished seventh in the World. She has earned three-straight bronze medals at international events—2024 Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial, 2024 Bill Farrell Memorial International and 2025 Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event.  

Domestically, Martinez has been pushing for a Senior World Team spot the past five years. She has placed in the top four at each World Team Trials dating back to 2021 and made the U.S. National Team in 2022 and 2023. She is a two-time Senior Nationals champion, with her most recent title coming last month in Las Vegas at the U.S. Open Championships. The win in Las Vegas qualified Martinez for Final X.

Maroulis is one of only four women to claim four WCWA college national championships. She won three for Simon Fraser University and one for Missouri Baptist University from 2010 to 2014. Martinez is a two-time women’s college nationals runner-up for North Central College, where she currently serves as assistant coach.

Final X will determine the 2025 U.S. World Team in two international disciplines—men’s freestyle and women’s freestyle. In total, 20 weight classes will be contested, 10 in each discipline. The top two U.S. athletes in each weight classes will wrestle a best-of-three series at Final X to determine the U.S. representative at the 2025 Senior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

Both Maroulis and Martinez have past Final X experience to draw from. Maroulis swept Final X series’ against Alex Hedrick in 2018 and 2022, and defeated Xochitl Mota-Pettis two matches to none in 2023. In her six Final X bouts, Maroulis has logged five shutout technical falls and a pin. Martinez has competed at two Final X events, taking true-third matches in 2022 and 2023.

Final X will serve as the Beat the Streets New York Annual Benefit, the 15^th BTSNY Annual Benefit to date. These unique electrifying events help BTSNY raise more than $1 million each year to support local youth wrestling programs which empower young people in New York City. The BTSNY Annual Benefit after-party will follow the conclusion of Final X.

Maroulis has appeared in seven Beat the Streets Annual Benefit events, holding an 8-0 record that dates back to 2012. Martinez is 2-0 at Beat the Streets Annual Benefit events courtesy of her true-third victories at Final X.

Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages (Final X plus exclusive after party celebration access), that also provide the best wrestling-event seats, are available at give.btsny.org/2025FinalX. Proceeds from Benefit tickets and sponsorship packages will directly help BTSNY serve NYC youth. For more information on ticket packages, email BTSNY Executive Director Brendan Buckley at bbuckley@btsny.org. 

Event-only tickets for Final X without access to the BTSNY after-party celebration are available on Ticketmaster.

FloWrestling will serve as the host broadcast partner for Final X. Fans can watch the event live or on-demand at FloWrestling.com.

Online results for Final X will be available on USA Bracketing, USA Wrestling’s new best-in-class event management software.

Final X will be held in two sessions on Saturday, June 14. Session I, which starts at 2 p.m. (ET), will feature round one in each best-of-three series. Session II, which starts at 5 p.m. (ET), will continue with round two and if-necessary round three matches. Match order for each session will be provided at a later date.

For more information about Final X, please visit themat.com.