“[God] comforted my heart” - Cleber Sousa shares how he overcame the loss of his mother

Cleber Sousa will step into thecCircle for the biggest submission grappling contest of his career as part of the stacked lineup at ONE on Prime Video 2 on September 30.

The fighter, known as ‘Clandestino’ will face submission grappling Mikey ‘Darth Rigatoni’ Musumeci for the promotion’s first-ever flyweight submission grappling world championship.

The two submission specialists who have met on two separate occasions pprior,will have their long awaiting trilogy match on ONE Championship’s global stage.

Leading up to the historic bout, Cleber Sousa spoke to ONE about his younger years and his mother, who he said had a “very big heart.”

Sadly, Sousa’s mother passed away. Dealing with the heartache, Cleber Sousa said that he found strength and comfort in God when he needed it the most.

“She had cancer, which when we found out it was already very advanced, and she died. I was with her all the time, until the last minutes of her death. It was an immeasurable pain, and it affected my entire family.

“[God] comforted my heart and I made room for that to happen. He put good friends around me to give me good advice, especially my jiu-jitsu family. I opened my heart and faced this whole situation like a good fighter in life that I am.”

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Cleber Sousa’s ONE on Prime Video 2 opponent Mikey Musumeci explains his unique nickname

Mikey Musumeci has perhaps one of the most unique nicknames in all of combat sports. The young energetic grappler goes by the name ‘Darth Rigatoni’. Asked by ONE Championship how the nickname came about, Musumeci revealed that it was a random nickname thrown out by a fan that just stuck.

“So that nickname happened because I was doing a bunch of no-gi super-fights. One of the fans randomly said it, and it was just the coolest name ever, and then it just stuck. And then everyone just started calling me that. I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m Darth Rigatoni now.’"

While Musumeci didn’t come up with the name himself, he has fully embraced the moniker and believes it represents him well.

“And it does represent me… because I’m like this nice smiley guy. But then when I go out to compete, I become like a different person. So that’s like the dark part of me comes out, you know? And then five seconds later, I’m smiling Mikey again, talking about pasta and pizza. So it really does symbolize me well, right?"