Demetrious Johnson hyped for Mikey Musumeci’s showdown against “legend” Shinya Aoki

The legendary Demetrious Johnson is the quintessential mixed martial artist, and he’s also the ultimate fan.

The reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion is rightfully intrigued with the impending submission grappling match between Mikey Musumeci and Shinya Aoki.

The ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion will face the Japanese MMA legend in an openweight submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 15 on October 6 at the historic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

In the debut episode of his podcast MightyCast, Johnson talked about his excitement for the grappling duel between two stars who defined their respective generations.

Musumeci is, arguably, the best representative of modern Brazilian jiu-jitsu while Aoki was one of the best grapplers in the early days of MMA.

Johnson said:

“He just submitted Jarred Brooks. He just beat a gentleman in Colorado, that guy was a grappler, but now he’s going against a legend Shinya Aoki. So, those are some bangers that are coming up for ONE Championship.”

Musumeci was a five-time BJJ world champion before he joined ONE Championship in 2022. Since arriving in the promotion, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ went on a tear.

The American submission artist is a perfect 5-0 in the promotion and became the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion in just his second fight.

After beating Cleber Sousa for the strap in October 2022, Musumeci defended the gold against Gantumur Bayanduuren, IBJJF world champion Osamah Almarwai, and ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks.

Aoki, meanwhile, is one of those stars who popularized just how dominant BJJ can be in MMA.

The former ONE lightweight MMA world champion terrorized PRIDE FC during his first years in the sport and collected a total of 31 submission wins in his storied career.

ONE Fight Night 15 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.