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ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci is no stranger to overcoming his own demons.
A true mental health advocate, 'Darth Rigatoni' admits 'The Gentle Art' helps him immensely to cope with the challenges he deals with in his personal life.
Musumeci recently engaged with his followers online through a brief Q&A session on his Instagram stories.
One of his followers asked:
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"How can I keep my personal life from affecting my performance on the mat?"
The Evolve MMA affiliate revealed he treats jiu-jitsu as his solace and safe space, especially when things get too overwhelming for him. Musumeci wrote back:
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"Learn to use the struggles of your personal life as fuel when you train. Let the training be an escape from whatever you're dealing with. I'm an escape master how much I've used training for this."
Mikey Musumeci has never been shy about speaking his mind about the importance of mental health, particularly his bouts with depression.
The five-time IBJJF world champion's honesty is truly remarkable, which is another endearing quality that made him such a fan favorite.
On top of his affable personality, Musumeic is also perhaps one of the most technically skilled athletes in his craft, as we've seen in his perfect 7-0 run in the world's largest martial arts organization.
Kade Ruotolo honored to give fans what they want in super fight vs Mikey Musumeci
After passing his bantamweight debut with flying colors against Gabriel Sousa last June, Mikey Musumeci is amping up the ante by moving up three weight classes this time around.
The 28-year-old BJJ superstar will challenge lightweight submission grappling king Kade Ruotolo in one of the most highly-anticipated matches of the blockbuster ONE 168: Denver card.
In an interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Ruotolo said he's glad that this dream match with Musumeci is finally coming to fruition.
"It was just a [match] that a lot of the jiu-jitsu community really wanted to see, so if that’s what they wanna see, I’m gonna give it to them."
Tickets for ONE 168: Denver on September 6 at Ball Arena are available via Ticketmaster.
