Mikey Musumeci says Gabriel Sousa rematch has been a long time in the making: "I've been bothering ONE for a year"

In recent times, there has been one match-up that Mikey Musumeci has had his sights set on.

The ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion has racked up some impressive wins and performances during his title reign.

However, there has been one thing that he hasn't been able to reach and that comes in the form of revenge.

Before he joined ONE Championship, the last man to beat Musumeci was Gabriel Sousa.

The Brazilian submitted 'Darth Rigatoni' three years ago and it's safe to say that the flyweight kingpin hasn't forgotten it.

The two men are now set to run it back at ONE 167 where Musumeci will be moving up a weight class to face Sousa at bantamweight.

In an interview with Jits Magazine, Mikey Musumeci spoke about how this contest came together and what was preventing it from happening any sooner:

"I've been bothering ONE for a year for this match like 'can I fight Gabriel Sousa?' and they're like 'yes you can, if he can make your weight class' and Gabriel can't make my weight class so I said to ONE 'OK, he can't make the weight class so can I please go up?' and at first they weren't letting me but now they're like 'fine, you can go up'."

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Mikey Musumeci is out for payback

Mikey Musumeci may be incredibly calm and collected when he isn't competing but make no mistake about it, there's a reason he's one of the best ever.

You simply don't get to the level that he has reached without being incredibly competitive and that goes for all forms of sport.

This defeat to Sousa will have bothered Musumeci ever since it first happened, and now he has the opportunity to correct some mistakes.

The flyweight submission grappling king arrives at bantamweight with the goal of settling the score after three years of motivation.

ONE 167 will air live from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, next Friday, June 7. North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire card live in U.S. primetime for free.