“It's a little different in some variables” - Mikey Musumeci explains the difference between MMA grapplers and exclusive grapplers

While Brazilian jiu-jitsu is an integral part of mixed martial arts, the two sports are still apples and oranges if you ask Mikey Musumeci.

The 26-year-old ONE submission grappling star, who’s also a five-time IBJJF black belt world champion, acknowledges that there’s a huge difference between traditional BJJ and grappling in MMA.

The biggest variable? The threat of getting punched in the face.

In an exclusive interview with ONE Championship, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ talked about how great BJJ practitioners adjust their ground tactics once they make the transition to MMA. Here are his two cents:

“MMA fighters have to focus on the variable of getting punched. So they have a different element that they have to focus on. So I feel like they have to be a little more technical in some ways with their framing and stuff and getting punched, but then they have to not focus on other things that jiu-jitsu people focus on. I just feel like it's a little different in some variables like that.”

Indeed, grappling in BJJ and MMA is worlds apart. Experienced grapplers like Mikey Musumeci can attest to this. In MMA, fighters usually approach transitions and submission entries differently, since they are wary of putting themselves in harm’s way for possible strikes.

Case in point, Garry Tonon learned this the hard way when he challenged Thanh Le for the ONE featherweight world title at ONE: Lights Out this past March. ‘The Lion Killer’, who developed a notorious reputation in strictly-grappling bouts, went for one of his infamous leg locks against the former world champion.

He committed on the hold like he used to in previous no-gi matches, but it opened him up for some retaliation from the Vietnamese-American. Le rained down terrifying haymakers on his grounded opponent’s face and won the match in just 56 seconds.

Watch the full fight below:

Mikey Musumeci, on the other hand, can launch his full arsenal and execute a certain technique down to a tee since he doesn’t have to worry about getting knocked out in submission grappling matches.

The BJJ wizard will return to action later today against Cleber Sousa. The pair will collide for the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world title at ONE on Prime Video 2: Xiong vs Lee III.

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Mikey Musumeci is grateful for ONE for bringing submission grappling into the spotlight

Submission grappling has truly become all the rage these days, but it wasn’t always like that in the beginning. Due to a lack of opportunities to make a career strictly from grappling, even BJJ purists had to try their hand at MMA since it was more mainstream at the time.

Nowadays, BJJ practitioners have more platforms to showcase their craft. Young and talented fighters like Mikey Musumeci, Danielle Kelly, and the Ruotolo brothers, Kade and Tye, are leading the charge for this new generation of modern-day grapplers.

Furthermore, ONE made the initiative of giving submission grappling the spotlight it deserves. Mikey Musumeci is grateful for the promotion for allowing disciples of the grappling arts like him to show their skills on the global stage.

He told ONE:

“It really does make it so that you don't have to go to MMA. Typically, jiu-jitsu guys in the previous generations wouldn't be able to make enough money in jiu-jitsu. So they would be like, oh, I have to go do MMA. So now you're able to keep doing what you love, and you don't have to change to MMA.”

‘Darth Rigatoni’, of course, knows just how lucrative the submission grappling scene can be. He won a sweet $50,000 bonus after submitting Masakazu Imanari in his ONE debut.