"I think I'll get even better" - Gabriel Sousa says camp to solely focus on Mikey Musumeci has worked wonders

How a fighter prepares for his bout is everything in the world of combat sports and ONE Championship debutant Gabriel Sousa knows it all too well.

The decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) star will feature in a bantamweight submission grappling bout at ONE 167 on June 7 against a familiar foe in the form of flyweight submission grappling world champ Mikey Musumeci.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Gabriel Sousa is grateful to have a training camp solely focused on 'Darth Rigatoni':

"For this fight, since I'm training just for him, focused just on fighting against him, I think I'll get even better."

He continued:

"I believe that this time, I will have more time to focus on the fight and train to fight for 10 minutes. It's a shorter period, because the only time we fought, we fought for 15 minutes. At the time I submitted him, I think after 11 minutes of the fight."

As Sousa alluded to, their first meeting in September 2021 outside of the promotion saw him locking in a north-south choke to submit Musumeci for the first and only time of his career thus far.

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Gabriel Sousa prepared for Mikey Musumeci's devastating leg locks

ONE Championship fans have become familiar with how the New Jersey native enjoys exploiting his opponents' legs, but Gabriel Sousa is ready to deal with it inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Speaking with Vitor Freitas Comunica, Sousa stated:

"There are a lot of athletes these days who attack a lot of leg locks, a lot of flexible guys who are focused on attacking heel hooks and foot locks. Here at Essential Jiu-Jitsu in New York, where I train, we are doing a camp very focused on what will happen in the fight."

ONE 167 will air live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.