Jarred Brooks on Mikey Musumeci going into MMA: “I think that he would beat your average fighters”

Reigning and undisputed ONE strawweight MMA world champion ‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks has been impressed by ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion ‘Darth Rigatoni’ Mikey Musumeci’s development as a complete martial artist.

The two locked horns recently in a submission grappling contest at ONE Fight Night 13 on Prime Video this past August, with Musumeci submitting Brooks within regulation to retain his coveted flyweight belt.

Since then, however, Musumeci has made an effort to sharpen his striking skills, sparking rumors of a potential transition to mixed martial arts competition. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ has even been spotted training in Thailand at Superbon’s camp, alongside legendary Nong-O Hama and Trainer Gae.

Brooks, for one, believes Musumeci has a future in MMA, as long as he commits fully to learning the ins and outs of true combat.

In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Brooks talked about Musumeci’s potential as an MMA fighter.

‘The Monkey God’ said:

“I think that he would beat your average fighters, like, you know [Masakazu] Imanari. Imanari, he goes out and he will beat your average fighter with his jiu-jitsu. But you have to literally get hit so many times to learn the game. I don't know if Mikey's willing to really risk the brain cells and you know, risk everything, [put everything] on the line.”

Brooks believes Musumeci has the talent and the determination to succeed in anything. But according to ‘The Monkey God’, only one thing is certain. If they ever met inside the circle, the Italian-American fighter will not want to mess with him.

Brooks added:

“He studied the game in jiu-jitsu very well. So if he does that in Muay Thai then hats off to him. But I think that he's not going to want to take too many punches, especially from somebody that's a world caliber like myself.”

See the full interview below:

Musumeci returns this week at ONE Fight Night 15 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he squares off against former ONE lightweight MMA world champion ‘Tobikan Judan’ Shinya Aoki in an openweight submission grappling showdown.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action of ONE Fight Night 15 live and absolutely free on Amazon Prime Video.