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ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong said he was impressed with Mikey Musumeci's debut as he welcomed him to Evolve MMA. Musumeci, a five-time jiu-jitsu world champion, made his ONE Championship bow against the legendary Masakazu Imanari at ONE 156. He finished Imanari with an impressive rear-naked choke.
Musumeci also received a $50,000 bonus for his performance as well. It doesn't seem like Musumeci will be going anywhere soon, especially now that he has moved permanently to Singapore, according to Chatri Sityodtong's Facebook page.
"Please join me in welcoming current 5x Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt World Champion Mikey Musumeci to Evolve MMA! He has moved permanently to Singapore to train, compete, and teach out of EVOLVE."
Sityodtong continued about Musumeci's excellence:
"I trained with Mikey today and I was completely blown away by his game. Of course, he is one of the greatest and most technical Black Belt World Champions on the planet today. I will say that his fundamentals and technical details are truly extraordinary, but his greatest strength is his brilliant genius mind. He taught me so many fascinating concepts and simple details that left me feeling both confused and enlightened."
Mikey Musumeci could be the next star for ONE Championship
Mikey Musumeci, 25, came into his ONE debut with a ton of hype surrounding him. Beating one of the most decorated grapplers in ONE in his first fight showed that he could be something special.
Being as ONE wants to build their grappling, and Musumeci is someone they can build it around. He is a young phenom with a great personality and looks like he will be at this high level for quite some time to come.
It appears Musumeci could fight any elite grappler that ONE has to offer and put on a show for the fans. It will be interesting to see who he gets matched up with next, perhaps Shinya Aoki. We know how good both Aoki and Musumeci are, so there's no reason why there won't be tons of excitement throughout that match.
