“It’s such an honor to face him” - Mikey Musumeci has nothing but love for legendary ‘Tobikan Judan’ Shinya Aoki

Mikey Musumeci is regarded by many as one of the torchbearers of modern Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and he knows he would have never reached those heights if not for the old masters before him.

‘Darth Rigatoni’ got to take on one of those old masters when he faced and submitted Shinya Aoki at ONE Fight Night 15 this past weekend at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium. Musumeci even used Aoki’s patented Aoki lock to secure the poetic submission win.

In his post-fight interview, Musumeci revealed that he showed his respect to Aoki even before they stepped between the ropes.

He said:

“So for me, this is like such a special victory, doing this particular move on the creator and the legend, Shinya Aoki. It's such an honor to face him. I'm telling you, like before the match, I kept telling him, ‘It was such an honor to face you, professor.’”

Aoki is arguably the best pure grappler to ever transition into MMA, and his resume puts a ton of weight on that statement.

The Japanese legend is a former ONE lightweight MMA world champion and once held titles under the banners of DREAM and Professional Shooto. Aoki was also one of the most terrifying fighters to ever come out of the legendary PRIDE FC promotion.

Aoki has been competing since 2003 and amassed 47 wins, 30 of which came by submission. He had such a groundbreaking submission game that he earned the mythical nickname ‘Tobikan Judan’ or the grandmaster of flying submissions.

Musumeci, meanwhile, was a five-time BJJ world champion before he arrived at ONE Championship in 2022. He’s since become the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion and has a perfect 6-0 record in the promotion.

His win over Aoki in Bangkok was also his fourth submission win in ONE Championship.

Watch Musumeci's entire interview below: