Introvert Mikey Musumeci loves studying different cultures to connect with people

It’s hard for a self-confessed nerd and introvert like reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion ‘Darth Rigatoni’ Mikey Musumeci to go out and build social connections. But it’s definitely something he has grown to love over the years.

Speaking to ONE Championship in a recent interview, Musumeci talked about how living and competing in Asia has allowed him to experience a variety of different cultures. The 26-year-old said:

“I love connecting with people. I feel like because I’m an introvert, I’ve always felt uncomfortable. I remember when I was younger, I was very uncomfortable connecting with people."

He added:

"So what helped me start learning to connect with people was learning about other people and their cultures and finding similarities between my culture in theirs. And it became very fascinating to me.”

“I started liking to learn and study different cultures. And once I started learning and studying different cultures, I started connecting more with people because I started understanding people better. So I feel like that really helped me learn to connect with people when I learned about other cultures.”

Musumeci also stressed the importance of coming together as a people. He said:

“Yeah, to be social, but also to connect and to bring people together because everyone is so similar, even with their different cultures and backgrounds. And if we could all just embrace and appreciate that we could all be together.”

Mikey Musumeci will make another defense of his ONE flyweight submission grappling the world title against IBJJF No Gi world champion Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10, which takes place at the 1stBank Center in Colorado on May 5th.

ONE Fight Night 10 streams live and for free in the United States and Canada via Amazon Prime.