Mikey Musumeci learned to live and grow with the pressure of being on top

Mikey Musumeci has learned to take the pressure that comes with being one of the best grapplers in the world and use it to fuel his continued success.

As a five-time IBJJF world champion and current ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion, Mikey Musumeci knows a thing or two about the pressure that comes with climbing to the top and staying there. But instead of letting that pressure consume him, leading to his downfall, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ has learned to harness it.

He’ll attempt to do that once again when he returns to the circle for a ONE Fight Night 10 showdown with fellow IBJJF world champion Osamah Almarwai. Ahead of their highly anticipated contest, Mikey Musumeci spoke with the South China Morning Post about the position he is in and the pressure that comes with it:

“I live with the pressure. The responsibility of being in the position I’m in is that you have to live with the pressure and you have to grow from the pressure. I feel like every time I had pressure when I won the worlds, I was like ‘Okay I’m used to it now,’ then the pressure would grow more, then it would grow more, then it would grow more. So I feel like it’s a responsibility but I’ve learned to live with it and use it as fuel.”

Watch the full interview below:

His opponent, Osamah Almarwai, will be making his promotional debut but has more than earned his opportunity to compete for ONE Championship gold. ‘Osa’ holds the distinction of being the first black belt IBJJF World No-Gi and Pan No-Gi champion from Yemen and the Middle East.

Trained under legendary BJJ practitioner Andre Galvao, Osamah Almarwai will be more than ready for his opportunity to make ONE Championship history in the ‘Mile High City.’

Amazon Prime Video subscribers in North America can catch ONE Fight Night 10 live and for free in U.S. primetime on May 5.