"It was like my first year of no-gi" - Mikey Musumeci admits he was still a freshman in no-gi during first Gabriel Sousa fight

For some athletes, facing an opponent for a second time might seem daunting, but for ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci, it presents him with the opportunity to right a mistake.

ONE 167, which will take place inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 7, will see 'Darth Rigatoni' face Gabriel Sousa in a redo that has been three years in the waiting.

Musumeci is widely viewed as among the best submission grapplers and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) practitioners of his era, though that was not always the case.

In an interview with Jits Magazine, Mikey Musumeci revealed that he was simply outclassed and outmatched against Sousa in their first bout:

"The last time I fought Gabriel it was like my first year of no-gi, so I was just transitioning to no gi. Gabriel's a super high level competitor, right? He got second at ADCC in this weight class."

To this day, Sousa is the only man to have ever given Musumeci a submission defeat in his combat sports career, and the New Jersey native would love to finally avenge that defeat.

Since that defeat, though, the Cobrinha BJJ product has gone on a nine-fight winning streak, which has made him a megastar under the world's largest martial arts promotion.

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Mikey Musumeci fully prepped for ONE 167

With their rematch having the added bonus of it being Musumeci's bantamweight submission grappling debut, Musumeci has given it his all in training camp.

In a recent Instagram post, Mikey Musumeci wrote:

"We are ready! Just finished my last week of preparation for my match in two weeks in Thailand @onechampionship with my professor @cobrinhacharles ❤️ It's been a few months now that I have been driving every week for five hours to train and learn from him and the amount of progress we have made is insane."

ONE 167 will air live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.