Mikey Musumeci admits he should have let go of the leg lock and look for other ways to finish

Mikey Musumeci believes he shouldn’t have solely focused on leg locks at ONE Fight Night 6 on Prime Video.

ONE Championship’s expansion into submission grappling has shed light on how exciting the martial arts discipline can be. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ has led the way as arguably the most entertaining practitioner in ONE. He returned on January 13 to defend his flyweight submission grappling title, which didn’t quite go as planned.

Musumeci used his flexibility and creativity to destroy Gantumur Bayanduuren’s legs with submission attempts. Despite having his knee ripped to shreds, Bayandurren didn’t tap, which frustrated ‘Darth Rigatoni.’ The American had this to say during the post-fight interview:

“Eventually, I was like, ‘Screw it.’ I looked at my corner they're like two minutes left and I'm like screw it, I let go and then I took his back. I should have probably done that earlier. But how do I go again, if I keep doing damage to a certain leg? I definitely have never been in that exact scenario. So it was new for me, for sure… Yeah, I don't even want to watch the match.”

Bayanduuren showed his toughness in the bout but suffered the consequences later. The Mongolian tore his ACL, MCL, and Meniscus while also breaking his ankle against Musumeci. It was a gruesome sight for most MMA fans.

Watch Mikey Musumeci's ONE Fight Night 6 post-fight interview below:

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Mikey Musumeci details the gruesome leg lock sequence against Gantumur Bayanduuren

The craziest part of Gantumur Bayanduuren not taping is that Mikey Musumeci had his patented ‘Mikey Lock’ in place for a long time. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ posted the highlight on Instagram and explained the technical breakdown by saying:

“First starting on the neck, then progressing to a regular inside heel hook, then progressing to the strongest heel hook [a reverse figure 4 inside heel hook]. I continued to apply breaking pressure on his leg about 8 minutes straight, but my opponent unfortunately would not tap.”

Musumeci made his ONE debut in April, securing an impressive win against Masakazu Imanari. He returned five months later to secure the ONE flyweight submission grappling world title against Cleber Sousa before defending his throne against Bayanduuren. It’s unclear what’s next for ‘Darth Rigatoni,’ but hopefully, his next opponent will tap out if it comes to it.