"Mikey Musumeci makes it look EFFORTLESS" - Musumeci has some of the smoothest grappling in the game

World-class grappler Mikey Musumeci continues to impress fans of ONE Championship. On Instagram, ONE shared a video of Musumeci submitting Japanese MMA veteran Masakazu Imanari.

ONE had the following caption for the clip on Instagram:

"Mikey Musumeci makes it look EFFORTLESS."

It is a clip of Musumeci smoothly locking in a Rear Naked Choke during a submission grappling match at ONE 156.

Despite only being 25 years old, Musumeci has won the Brazilian jiu jitsu World Championships an impressive five times. He specializes in No Gi grappling, of which he has captured four world titles. He now grapples in ONE Championship.

Masakazu Imanari is a long-time veteran of Japanese MMA. He made his professional debut in 2000 and his career has taken him to top promotions such as PRIDE FC and ONE Championship. He is a grappling specialist who has won over 70 percent of his bouts via submission.

Before their bout, Imanari knew how good his opponent was. Speaking to Sportskeeda MMA, he said:

“He’s definitely one of the best right now that there are. I think he’s a really high-level opponent. He has high-level techniques and pulls off submissions at a high percentage. I can’t really find any weaknesses in him.”

At ONE 156, Musumeci submitted Imanari in a submission grappling bout in only four minutes and made it look easy.

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Mikey Musumeci breaking down his submission

American grappling expert Musumeci did a technical breakdown on YouTube about how he entrapped his veteran opponent in this submission. Speaking to ONE, he said this is what he did to finish the Rear Naked Choke:

“Now I walk my hand behind his back and use my chin to hide the hand. At this moment, I’m already choking Imanari, the choke is already in, but then, once I add in the second hand of support, it’s completely done and he has no hands to fight and I was able to get the finish.”

The rest of his breakdown of the submission grappling match can be found here:

This submission was so impressive that it also earned him a $50,000 performance bonus from ONE. Musumeci does not have another submission grappling bout currently scheduled in ONE Championship. However, he will likely be back before the end of the year.