Mikey Musumeci likens rear-naked choke finish to going for knockout punch

Mikey Musumeci kept his word and there were certainly no dull moments in his successful ONE flyweight submission grappling world title defense against Osamah Almarwai.

Vowing to showcase the beauty of grappling-only matches in the promotion’s US debut at ONE Fight Night 10, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ had his foot on the gas pedal in his methodical destruction of a formidable challenger.

The moment the bell rang, the 26-year-old was on the attack and never allowed Almarwai to mount any offense of his own. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ executed wizardly transitions and relentless submission attempts for the entire duration of the bout, up until he finally got the tap at the 8:03 mark via a picturesque rear-naked choke.

Speaking to the media at the ONE Fight Night 10 post-event interviews, Mikey Musumeci had an interesting analogy about his ruthless ground aggression:

“I just kept attacking, attacking, attacking. Kind of like striking where you’re looking for the knockout punch, I’m just attacking finishes every second and then I finally got the finish in the end.”

While submission grappling has been growing exponentially over the last few years, it’s still not as accepted in the mainstream as MMA or even all-striking match-ups like Muay Thai and kickboxing.

Part of it is the audience’s lack of knowledge about the grappling, which is something that Mikey Musumeci wants to solve.

The Evolve MMA affiliate is a true luminary of the grappling arts and has vowed to put on exhilarating performances to elevate the sport further. He certainly achieved that mission against Osamah Almarwai.

Fans with a Prime Video subscription in North America can relive Mikey Musumeci’s virtuosic performance at ONE Fight Night 10 free of charge.