Mikey Musumeci says parents wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer before fighting career

Reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ Mikey Musumeci is one of the most talented and most accomplished grapplers in the world today. But he wasn’t always at the top of the world in his chosen sport.

In fact, Musumeci was on a path of a different profession. And if it were up to his parents, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ would be in a courtroom or working at a hospital instead of fighting in the cage.

In a guest appearance on The Fighter and the Kid, Musumeci revealed that his parents didn’t exactly get behind his submission grappling career in the beginning.

‘Darth Rigatoni’ said:

“So my parents always pushed me to be a doctor or a lawyer. And then once this happened, with ONE Championship, they like finally respect this career, you know.” [1:05:45 onwards]

Obviously, that all changed when Musumeci saw massive success. The 26-year-old Italian-American phenom joined ONE Championship, the world’s largest martial arts organization, in April of 2022 and never looked back.

He has since remained unbeaten in four matches, along the way capturing the coveted ONE flyweight submission grappling world title.

Most recently, Musumeci put in one of his best performances to date when he took on former IBJJF No-Go world champion Osamah ‘Osa’ Almarwai at the historic ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III.

Musumeci tapped out Almarwai via rear-naked choke before time expired, to retain the belt and claim a thrilling victory in front of a sold-out 1stBank Center crowd in Denver, Colorado.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action of ONE Fight Night 10 via replay on Amazon Prime Video.