“Like old Mikey when he came, and won worlds” – Mikey Musumeci focused on bringing best version for possible Diogo Reis war

At just 27 years old, Mikey Musumeci has secured a legacy in submission grappling that will be very difficult to emulate.

With five IBJJF world titles under his belt, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ has long been considered one of the best in the world if not the greatest to ever do it.

Since signing with ONE Championship, that ball has only continued to pick up momentum with him going on to become the ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion.

In 2023, it has once again been another stellar year for the world titleholder with four consecutive wins, three of which were title defenses.

Due to everything that he has been able to accomplish, the champion isn’t in a rush to constantly make it back inside the Circle despite his love of competition.

At ONE Fight Night 15, he shared the stage in ONE Championship with an all-time legend and pioneer Shinya Aoki.

With his own signature submission, the ‘Aoki lock’, Musumeci took out an icon of submission grappling and martial arts and called it a year.

When looking at his potential return, there is one name that is currently calling out to the flyweight world champion as a challenge that he would like to test himself in.

Brazilian competitor Diogo Reis has been one of the stand-out competitors in the world over recent years and at just 21 years old, he has an incredible future ahead of him.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mikey Musumeci spoke about his motivation to face Reis in a match-up that he believes would bring the hunger out of him that he had earlier on in his career:

“But I definitely want this match with Diogo Reis, you know. That's my goal and it's going to be the, I'm gonna give it like 100 percent effort, like old Mikey when he came and got the black belt and won worlds. That's how I see it. So it makes me very excited.”

Watch the full interview below:

North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 15 via the free event replay.