“Pushing myself to even new limits” - Osamah Almarwai says he’s reaching higher levels preparing for Cleber Sousa duel in Qatar

ONE Championship has stayed true to its moniker of being the home of martial arts, as the promotion consistently shines a spotlight on sports like kickboxing, Muay Thai and submission grappling, rather than just focusing on MMA.

On March 1, the promotion will be showcasing their greatest athletes inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar for ONE 166, with an intriguing submission grappling match set to take place on the undercard.

ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship contenders Osamah Almarwai and Cleber Sousa will be sharing the ONE Circle in another display of grappling wizardry.

Fans would remember both men being in high-profile matches in their debuts as they took on the current world champion Mikey Musumeci in 2023 and 2022 respectively. Neither man was able to defeat ‘Darth Rigatoni’ for the ONE flyweight submission grappling world title.

Now that the two stars are on a collision course, it is Yemen’s Almarwai who has been particularly vocal about his goal entering the bout.

Almarwai recently spoke with ONE Championship to speak on his preparations for the Sousa clash and had the following to say:

“I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t do my best. And this is what I’m doing now, preparing for Cleber. I’m pushing myself to even new limits.”

Osamah Almarwai credits Mikey Musumeci bout for his development

Facing adversity always presents fighters with an opportunity to get better and although he lost to Musumeci, Almarwai is happy he got to challenge Musumeci for the flyweight submission grappling world championship.

Against Sousa, however, Almarwai will need to be extremely careful with how he approaches as the Brazilian, a 2019 IBJJF Pan American gold medalist, can lock in a submission in the blink of an eye.

ONE 166 is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.