“It means everything to my legacy” - Mikey Musumeci humbled by being the first ONE submission grappling world champion

Mikey Musumeci is grateful to be making history in ONE Championship. The grappling phenom recently captured the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world title, the first of its kind.

ONE Championship is a combat sports league that has the finest fighters across multiple disciples. It has top-ranked pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, Muay Thai, and Kickboxing. Now, they've also added submission grappling to their repertoire.

At ONE on Prime Video 2, American-born athlete Mikey Musumeci made history by being the first submission grappling world champion in ONE. An extremely honored Musumeci said::

"It means everything to my legacy, you know, because I know ONE Championship is the biggest title in jiujitsu. And for future generations, this will be everything for everyone, you know. So to be the first person to get it, it's so special. I'm just honored that I'm the first person."

Musumeci began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the tender age of 4. He is now 26 and has defeated notable opponents such as Masakazu Imanari and his rival Cleber Sousa. Defeating Sousa via decision is what secured the BJJ star the ONE flyweight submission grappling world title.

---

Mikey Musumeci on jiu-jitsu's explosion

It may not be obvious from Mikey Musumeci being a young phenom of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but he never expected this to be his career. A few years ago, he began looking at getting into law school.

On Instagram, the 26-year-old athlete shared:

“Five years ago when I won in worlds. In my mind, I was like, oh, I'll just go to law school now. I wouldn't be in jiu-jitsu anymore. I'll just have another career. I didn't think that you can make a career in jiu-jitsu like that. That was a standard way to think back then."

But the popularity of Brazilian jiu-jitsu grew so quickly that he kept at this sport and now it's his full-time job. He continued:

"But then all of a sudden, jiu-jitsu exploded. And now there's so much opportunity for everyone. So you can really just live your passion. It's so cool.”

Mikey Musumeci is living his dream as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu athlete competing in ONE Championship. The young world titleholder is living his best life as he teaches and competes in the sport he loves.