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ONE submission grappling superstar Mikey Musumeci treats all of his Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) matches like a mental game of chess.
Judging by the ridiculous amount of BJJ wins he has under his belt, the 26-year-old can be considered some sort of grandmaster at this point.
While grappling is indeed a physically taxing sport, Musumeci believes it's more of mental warfare.
After all, the most successful BJJ world champions all have their minds and bodies in tune.
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On the mats, you have to be able to react to your opponent’s moves, while also figuring out a way to impose your own attacks as well.
‘Darth Rigatoni’, who’s been an astute student of the game since the get-go, has found success by methodically analyzing every single move he makes before putting it into action.
The devil is in the details, after all.
In an interview with ONE Championship, the American-born grappler detailed what jiu-jitsu means to him:
“It's literally just a math problem to me. Competing in jiu-Jitsu is different from training because it really exposes you, do you have the answer or not? If you do, you win, if you don't, you lose."
Mikey Musumeci added:
“And then if you lose, that's okay, you can compete again the next week, you know. You just fix your mistake and go back. You can't have too big of an ego and make an excuse. If you made a mistake, you have to fix it. So I use these competitions to just fix any mistakes that I'm making.”
Before taking his act to ONE, Mikey Musumeci accomplished everything there is in the “Gentle Art”, both in gi and no-gi.
The five-time IBJJF black belt world champion has shared the mats with some of the best the sport has to offer. This includes Cleber Sousa, whom he’ll be fighting at ONE on Prime Video 2: Xiong vs. Lee III this Friday, September 30, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The pair of grappling wizards, who went 1-1 in their first two encounters, will look to settle the score and become the first-ever ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion.
Mikey Musumeci says loss to Cleber Sousa inspired him to get better
Musumeci’s BJJ journey has allowed him to experience both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
While losing is always a painful pill to swallow, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ admitted that he learned a lot after that stinging loss to Sousa in the 2017 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
He 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.’"
Mikey Musumeci was able to get even by giving ‘Clandestino’ a taste of his own medicine in their rematch. Now, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ will be gunning for back-to-back wins against the tough Brazilian, hoping to bring home a gold strap in the process at ONE on Prime Video 2.
