WATCH: BJJ phenom Mikey Musumeci dissects his scientific submission of Japanese legend Masakazu Imanari in ONE debut

Mikey Musumeci with his hand raised in victory against Masakazu Imanari [Photo via: ONE Championship]
Mikey Musumeci with his hand raised in victory against Masakazu Imanari [Photo via: ONE Championship]

Reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci has been in a handful of tightly fought contests throughout his career. One of his best showings came in his promotional debut.

'Darth Rigatoni' was one of the most sought-after competitors in the world of submission grappling after chalking up four IBJJ world titles and one IBBJF no-gi world championship.

His debut came in mid-2022 against the legendary Masakazu Imanari, the inventor of the Imanari Roll, at ONE 156.

Musumeci dazzled fans all over the world by producing a rear-naked choke finish of the grappling icon, which he happily broke down via ONE Championship's Instagram:

"What people think is regression, it's a really good position. I leave the mount and I put my leg back inside. I want to lift up his body to feed my hand as a wedge under his waist to make him turn his back a little bit. I place my hand on his neck, I have a grip on his waist and I have my foot on that side. So, I end up on his back here."

Mikey Musumeci's latest adventures

The submission grappling star is a true martial arts practitioner and has most recently trained with Hollywood star Tom Hardy, who has been a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner for quite some time.

Prior to that, the BJJ phenom fanned the flames of his supposed move to MMA sometime soon by brushing up on his Muay Thai skills in Thailand.

Musumeci enlisted the help of the world-famous PK Saenchai gym, even getting interim ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Prajanchai to hold the pads for him.

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