“He helped me get to another level” - Mikey Musumeci is thankful that Cleber Sousa beat him

Five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blackbelt World Champion Mikey Musumeci understands that losing is an inevitable yet painful part of any sport, especially at the highest level.

For ‘Darth Rigatoni’, there are only two possible outcomes post-fight. It’s either he wins, or he learns. He simply licks his wounds and takes those defeats in stride. That championship mindset has allowed Musumeci to become one of the most decorated and recognized BJJ athletes at just 26 years of age.

On September 30 at ONE on Prime Video 2, the American-born BJJ ace will get to meet an adversary who has already bested him before, Cleber ‘Clandestino’ Sousa.

The stakes couldn’t get any higher this time around, as the pair of BJJ savants will clash for the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world title. Their epic trilogy will air live for North American fight fans via Amazon Prime.

Musumeci and Sousa each first crossed paths in the 2017 IBJFF Pan American Championship’s gi category. They figured in a technical match for the ages, with neither side refusing to give an inch over the other.

While the match ended with a score of 4-4, Sousa got the nod when he secured top position in the dying seconds, which gave him a favorable advantage under the tournament rules.

It didn’t take long for Mikey Musumeci to get even, as he squared off against the Brazilian at the 2017 Abu Dhabi World Pro. This time around, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ used the lessons from the first fight and was a lot more aggressive.

The Evolve MMA product, who usually attacks from his open guard, showcased his rarely seen guard-passing skills and narrowly edged ‘Clandesitono’ by points.

Instead of talking some trash after he got the win back, like most fighters would in the same situation, Musumeci recalled thanking his opponent for beating him the first time.

Mikey Musumeci told ONE:

“It helped me a lot, that loss, and I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful for Cleber. I competed with him the next month, and then I won that match, and I went up to him and I said, ‘Hey, thank you for the match the month before. You beat me, then I beat you now, we’re both helping each other improve.’"

He added:

“That’s why I compete, win or lose. I’m just working to improve, and he helped me get to another level in my jiu-jitsu.”

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Mikey Musumeci is in awe of the reception he got for ONE debut

After years of dominating the grappling scene, Mikey Musumeci couldn’t have asked for a better debut in the world’s largest martial arts organization.

It’s not like ONE gave him a favorable matchup either. The decorated black belt took on BJJ royalty Masakazu Imanari and took him to school at ONE 156 this past April.

According to Musumeci, that fight alone was no doubt bigger than all of his previous BJJ matches combined.

He shared:

“So, I’ve won black belt worlds five times in IBJJF, [and] one match in ONE was like 10 times the amount of publicity. So, it’s like, ‘Holy cr*p.’ That just puts things into perspective, how big ONE is, you know?”