"I was in this learning curve" - Mikey Musumeci admits loss to Gabriel Sousa helped him understand his No-gi style

In less than 24 hours, Mikey Musumeci will finally get the chance to avenge an earlier defeat at the hands of Gabriel Sousa. 'Darth Rigatoni' has bulked up to bantamweight to welcome the Brazilian to the home of martial arts at ONE 167: Tawanchai vs Nattawut II on Prime Video.

Before he could get his hands on Sousa, Musumeci constantly reminded himself about the last time they faced each other.

The Evolve MMA superstar got ambushed by Sousa in a Who's Number One event in 2021, where he got caught in a suffocating north-south choke.

Turns out, Musumeci was still establishing himself in no-gi at the time after dominating in the Gi early in his career.

The flyweight submission grappling world champion recalled in an interview with the promotion:

"I'm not gonna talk much about what I was going through before the match, right now. But basically, that was my first year of no-gi and I was in this learning curve."

Despite the setback, the always optimistic Musumeci said that experience molded him into the fine grappler that he is today, adding:

"I was trying to fill in the learning curve with like leg locks, trying to learn all these different things. And I feel like I did an amazing job that year."

Don't miss Mikey Musumeci's bid for redemption this Friday, June 7, at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. ONE 167 will air live in US Primetime, free for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

Mikey Musumeci says critics motivated him to become greater

Even a superstar as affable and likable as Mikey Musumeci still deals with his fair share of detractors.

While most criticism just seems unfair and unreasonable, the American grappler said he used some of it to shore up some existing weaknesses in his game.

For starters, Musumeci believes his grappling has gotten a whole lot better after reading all the 'butt-scooting' and 'pulling guard' jokes about him.

'Darth Rigatoni' told ONE:

"I've been learning a lot of wrestling now because people talk s**t about me pulling guard, and wrestling's really fun. I just use criticism as fuel to work on things."