“The biggest title I've ever had” - Mikey Musumeci speaks about the importance of the newly-won ONE world title

Mikey Musumeci has had his fair share of world titles but nothing could compare to his most recent prize in ONE Championship.

Musumeci became the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion when he beat rival Cleber Sousa at ONE on Prime Video 2 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

During his post-fight press conference, Musumeci said that winning the ONE world title is incomparable to the five Brazilian jiu-jitsu world titles he’s won before.

‘Darth Rigatoni’ is regarded as one of the greatest submission grapplers of his generation, and he earned that distinction when he won four world titles in the gi and one in the no-gi category.

He added that the sheer size of ONE Championship’s 26.4-pound belt, alone, trumps any world championship he’s ever won.

Mikey Musumeci said:

“It is definitely a bigger title than the other five combined, like, size-wise. But also, for sure, it's the biggest title I've ever had in my life. You know, I've been training jiu-jitsu for 22 years. So this all led up to me getting this title and it's crazy. It's such a crazy feeling, winning worlds for me was like one feeling. This is like a whole different feeling. It's so much bigger, this feeling, so it's insane.”

Musumeci reached the pinnacle of the sport when he took a dominant unanimous decision win over Sousa at ONE on Prime Video 2.

The American grappler was the aggressor for much of the fight and looked to submit Sousa at every opportunity he got. Although the match did not end in a submission, Musumeci’s constant offensive approach was enough for the judges to award him the victory.

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Mikey Musumeci says fighting inside a cage creates massive changes for BJJ

Mikey Musumeci has fought in BJJ for more than two decades now, but he went through an adjustment period when he started fighting in ONE Championship.

Unlike traditional BJJ competitions, bouts in ONE Championship are fought inside the circle, and Musumeci said that being enclosed in a cage brings a new dynamic to the martial art.

In the same post-fight press conference, Musumeci admitted that he’s fallen in love with fighting inside the cage since it promotes constant action and prevents his opponents from running away.

“Honestly, I like the circle wall because it makes it harder for the person to run away out of like, there's no out of bounds. So it keeps us inbounds. I actually prefer the circle wall, but it definitely is a new thing for me. And I just have to adapt over time. It takes me a while to adapt to things but I'm doing decent,” said Mikey Musumeci.