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ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci just achieved a marvelous feat in his career by submitting Shinya Aoki in an openweight match at ONE Fight Night 15 last month.
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Against one of the best grapplers in history who outweighed him by at least 30 pounds, 'Darth Rigatoni' pulled off a submission win in just three minutes. To make the feat even more impressive, Mikey Musumeci submitted 'Tobikan Judan' with his own signature submission, "The Aoki Lock".
After the match, Musumeci spoke on the mic and explained that using Aoki's submission hold against him was a show of respect and admiration for one of his idols. This has always been the theme of the self-proclaimed "Jiu-Jitsu Nerd" - he is one of the nicest assassins in all of combat sports.
ONE Championship posted a video on Instagram showcasing the juxtaposition between Musumeci's ferociousness in the ring and his gentleness outside of it:
"You better believe it 😬 Who’s next for ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci? @mikeymusumeci"
Interestingly, Mikey Musumeci answered the question and suggested two grapplers he's interested in facing next:
The two grapplers mentioned by the ONE flyweight submission grappling king were Diogo 'Baby Shark' Reis and Gabriel Sousa. 'Baby Shark' is one of the most feared young grapplers today, winning the IBJJF Grand Slam in the colored belts and a gold medal in the IBJJF world championship at black belt. The 21-year-old phenom is also an ADCC world champion at -66kg.
As for Gabriel Sousa, he is a former No.1-ranked Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu Pro athlete, a former IBJJF Worlds gold medalist in the colored belts, and an IBJJF European Open No-Gi champion.
We are not quite sure yet who ONE Championship will bring into the fold and challenge their most dominant submission grappling world champion yet. But from the looks of what these two competitors can bring, we're sure either of the two match-ups will produce a classic.
