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With Mikey Musumeci seeking out revenge, he is motivated to show just how far he has come as a competitor in the last few years.
His run in ONE Championship has been nothing short of stellar as each performance has been totally dominant.
Reigning as the ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion, there has been one name on his mind ever since he arrived in the promotion.
In order to make it happen, Musumeci has moved up a weight class to bantamweight but this only shows his desire to correct mistakes from the past.
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The last time 'Darth Rigatoni' was defeated was three years ago when he first met Gabriel Sousa and was submitted.
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Ahead of their rematch at ONE 167, Musumeci told ONE Championship about how he is a far different threat now compared to 2021:
"To see my level from then to now, you know? Because that was my first year of no gi, so I was constantly seeking progress then. And I feel like I made some crazy improvements from then to now."
On top of his familiarity competing in no gi, Musumeci puts the other key improvement that he has made down to his athleticism.
The flyweight champion said that his strength in particular has come a long way over the past few years:
"And my physical strength is, like, 10 times more. So I think I did everything I had to do for this match and in general."
Mikey Musumeci is always improving
Gabriel Sousa will have surely gained a lot of confidence from knowing that he got the better of Mikey Musumeci the last time they faced off.
However, as he said himself, the flyweight champion is not the same athlete that he was three years ago and he has continued to improve with each passing year.
Musumeci is expecting the same kind of evolution from Sousa at the Impact Arena but is confident in getting the win this time around.
ONE 167 will air live in US prime time on June 7 and is free to watch for North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.
