Mikey Musumeci believes grappling would be “more technical” without steroids

Mikey Musumeci believes that grappling as a sport can be more technical if competitors rely more on their skills rather than other external factors.

‘Darth Rigatoni’ is set to defend his ONE flyweight submission grappling world title against Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10 on Friday, May 5, inside the 1stBank Center in Colorado.

In an interview published by Grappling Insider, Mikey Musumeci expressed his vision of what grappling as a sport would be in the absence of the use of performance-enhancing medication. He was quoted saying:

“It would be a more technical jiu-jitsu,” he added. “So a lot of the best people, their jiu-jitsu works because theoretically, they have the strength to do their positions, but if they didn’t have that steroid strength, what would they be doing? They would need more positions; they would need more variations. So I think jiu-jitsu would be ten times more technical than it is today if there were no steroids.”

The use of steroids or performance-enhancing drugs is a contentious topic in grappling, as some recognized bodies do not have strict measures to regulate it. However, some athletes like Mikey Musumeci take pride in competing naturally and would like more athletes to follow suit by showing what they can achieve by doing things their way.

The 26-year-old will have another chance to add to his list of accomplishments when he takes on BJJ world champion Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10 this Friday, May 5.

The event will be broadcast live and for free on Prime Video for fans in North America with an active Amazon subscription.