ONE Fight Night 15 results: Mikey Musumeci uses ‘Aoki Lock’ to submit Shinya Aoki in openweight grappling war

The first-ever openweight submission grappling match in ONE Championship fittingly went down inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, where two BJJ icons Mikey Musumeci and Shinya Aoki shared the mat and exchanged submissions at ONE Fight Night 15 on Friday, October 6.

The one-round 10-minute grappling match started with the usual trick of ‘Darth Rigatoni’ offering his leg to put himself in the guard position against Aoki. Once he was in the position, Musumeci immediately went for his patented signature leg attacks.

The reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion’s relentless pursuit of the Japanese legend’s legs finally paid off at the two-minute mark when he had a strong grip on his right leg and continuously and relentlessly attacked it until he found the opening to crank it.

Once the 27-year-old had the cranked on Aoki’s right leg, the former ONE lightweight MMA world champion instantly tapped out in pain and ended the match at the 6:55 mark of the fight via the “Aoki Lock” or modified heel-hook finish as Musumeci added another victim to his win record.

It was the Evolve MMA representative’s 14th straight victory, and it awarded him another $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, which is his fifth under the world’s largest martial arts organization.

Musumeci improved his submission grappling record in ONE Championship record to 6-0, while Aoki received his second submission grappling defeat under the world’s largest martial arts organization after previously losing to Kade Ruotolo unanimously in May 2022. Musumeci’s overall submission grappling record now reads 63 wins with 31 submissions.