“You can really just live your passion” - Mikey Musumeci appreciates the growth of jiu-jitsu as a sport

For Mikey Musumeci, being one of the world’s best Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners was the ultimate goal. After becoming a five-time IBJJF world champion, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ was on top of the world.

Then reality began to set in. Could you really make a career in jiu-jitsu? For Musumeci, the answer looked to be leaning towards an emphatic “no.” Then ONE Championship came along.

Bringing submission grappling into the spotlight, ONE Championship began signing some of the best grapplers in the world to live out their dreams as professional combat sports athletes. This included Mikey Musumeci, who made his ONE debut in April 2022 and delivered a spectacular showing, submitting Masakazu Imanari in just over four minutes.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ shared his thoughts on the evolution of jiu-jitsu in the mainstream and the opportunities it has presented for himself and others.

“Five years ago when I won in worlds. In my mind, I was like, oh, I'll just go to law school now. I wouldn't be in jiu-jitsu anymore. I'll just have another career. I didn't think that you can make a career in jiu-jitsu like that. That was a standard way to think back then. But then all of a sudden, jiu-jitsu exploded. And now there's so much opportunity for everyone. So you can really just live your passion. It's so cool.”

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Mikey Musumeci shares his strategy for ONE on Prime Video 2 showdown with Cleber Sousa

When Mikey Musumeci makes his second appearance inside the circle at ONE on Prime Video 2, the opportunity to make ONE Championship history will be on the line. Facing familiar foe Cleber Sousa, Musumeci will aim to become the first-ever ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion.

During his conversation with ONE, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ shared his thought process in preparing for a match and his plan of attack against the Brazilian submission grappling star:

“Cleber should give me some really interesting reactions to the moves I’m working on, and we’ll see if I have the answer to how he defends the moves I’m working on. My game is very straightforward. I’m always doing certain sequences, and I’m attacking every second, and my opponent, it’s on them. Could they defend what I’m doing? And if they do, it stops my position. And if they don’t, I get it.”