Mikey Musumeci believes sambo fighters will eventually settle into ONE’s submission grappling ruleset

Mikey Musumeci believes Sambo practitioners will eventually find success inside the Circle

Ever since ONE Championship introduced a submission grappling division in 2022, a bevy of Sambo world champions have struggled to find their way into the win column. That includes Musumeci’s last opponent, Gatumur Bayanduuren, who suffered an ACL and MCL tear during their ONE Fight Night 6 scrap in January.

During a recent Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Mikey Musumeci was asked why Sambo standouts have struggled inside the Circle.

“I think the best "sambo" people aren't actually just sambo people. The dagistan team where Khabib and Islam are from they are actually extremely high level collegiate wrestlers. So with their extremely high wrestling level, plus learning any grappling submissions, it makes them extremely dominant."

He added:

“I think the ruleset in sports sambo is limiting (cannot choke someone from back more judo based rules it seems) and combat sambo is great for mma, but for the jiu jitsu grappling ruleset I think it has shown a lack of skills, which overtime these sambo people can for sure develop, but for now they are limited. :)”

Mikey Musucmeci will return to action on May 5 as he defends his ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship against debutant Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ will enter the contest undefeated inside the Circle, scoring wins over grappling legend Masakazu Imanari, Cleber Sousa, and the aforementioned Gantumur Bayanduuren.

However, Osamah Almarwai could very well represent his toughest test to date. Almarwai holds the distinction of being the first black belt IBJJF World No-Gi and Pan No-Gi champion from Yemen. Training under BJJ legend Andre Galvao, Almarwai will look to snag the biggest win of his career, capturing ONE Championship gold in the process.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 10 live and for free in U.S. primetime on May 5.