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ONE Championship's resident jiu jitsu nerd assassin Mikey Musumeci has a ground game like no other. Just when you think he's going to do something, he'll surprise you with something completely out of left field. This is what he did when he marvelously took the legendary Masakazu Imanari's back in ONE 156.
'Darth Rigatoni' submitted the Japanese MMA/jiu jitsu legend via rear-naked choke. How Musumeci got there, however, merits careful studying.
The transition that Musumeci used is quite uncommon, if not wildly inventive. From a knee slice pass, he stops midway and basically leaps to a slick back take. Stopping mid-pass to change direction jars the perception of the defender and leaves him incapable of defending the back take.
In a recent video by ONE Championship, we saw Musumeci drilling and demonstrating the back-take in one smooth sequence.
Watch the video here:
Musumeci makes it look so easy. Even after viewing the sequence multiple times, we still couldn't wrap our heads around the fact that Mikey Musumeci pulled it off on a legend like Imanari. His jiujitsu is so evolved and advanced that even grizzled veterans look like amateurs on the mat with him.
Mikey Musumeci will be fighting of the first ONE grappling world title
ONE recently held a press conference in LA to boost the hype surrounding their deal with Amazon Prime Video and their first-ever event in US Prime Time, ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II. One of the more notable moments of the press conference was Mikey Musumeci's announcement on his future in the promotion.
The American grappler broke the news that he'll be fighting for the inaugural ONE grappling world title. In his own words, Musumeci said:
"Yeah, well, I'm gonna be fighting October first for the first belt in jiu-jitsu history on ONE Championship, so I'm super honored for the opportunity. I have the chance to become the first champion and I'm so excited."
Though the opponent hasn't been announced yet, Musumeci was asked how he thought the fight would go. To this, 'Darth Rigatoni' said:
"I never really know the outcome of the matches, but hopefully I hit a cool move."
This is a monumental step forward for the grappling world. Another prestigious world title will be minted in Jiujitsu and will involve two of the best in the sport at the moment. Regardless of who will face Musumeci in October, we're sure the whole world will be watching.
