Mikey Musumeci says he thrives under ONE Championship’s submission grappling rules

Mikey Musumeci has been a submission grappler for the entirety of his professional combat sports life. Despite that, he doesn’t mind it one bit if ONE Championship’s ruleset is different from what he was previously accustomed to.

ONE Championship emphasizes offense above anything else during its Brazilian jiu-jitsu matches. Musumeci’s aggression will once again be put to the test when he takes on old rival Cleber Sousa at ONE on Prime Video 2: Xiong vs. Lee III this Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Musumeci and Sousa’s tussle will also be for the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world title. It’s a match the American grappler has had his eyes on for a few months now.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Musumeci said that he’s loving ONE Championship’s ruleset, which is different from what other competitions use.

“It's just a pure battle of two guys trying to kill each other with submissions. I feel like this format will bring out the best version of Cleber. And it should bring out the best version of me because it's just pure attacking.”

ONE Championship’s submission grappling matches have an uninterrupted 12-minute time limit. They can only end if one fighter taps out or gets choked out. If there’s no submission in the allotted time, then the competitor with the most submission attempts is declared the winner.

Referees are also sticklers for keeping the pace and aren't hesitant to hand out yellow cards for stalling.

Musumeci didn’t need the whole 12 minutes when he fought Japanese legend Masakazu Imanari in his promotional debut at ONE 156: Eersel vs. Sadikovic this past April.

‘Darth Rigatoni’ nullified Imanari’s patented Imanari roll and forced ‘Ashikan-Judan’ to submit to a rear-naked choke at the 4:09 mark of the contest.

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Mikey Musumeci grateful to Sousa for beating him in their first match

Mikey Musumeci and Sousa share a rivalry. Their match at ONE on Prime Video 2 will ultimately break their 1-1 stalemate.

The grapplers fought each other five years ago, with Sousa taking a decision win at the 2017 IBJFF Pan American Championship. Musumeci got his revenge a month later, taking a points victory at the 2017 Abu Dhabi World Pro Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Although he lost in their first matchup, Mikey Musumeci said that he was grateful for Sousa since the defeat made him a better fighter.

In the same ONE Championship interview, Mikey Musumeci said:

“It helped me a lot, that loss, and I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful for Cleber. I competed with him the next month, and then I won that match, and I went up to him and I said, ‘Hey, thank you for the match the month before. You beat me, then I beat you now, we’re both helping each other improve.’"