ONE Championship’s grappling stars weigh in on the Mikey Musumeci vs. Cleber Sousa world title fight

Mikey Musumeci has already captured the hearts of ONE Championship fans with his incredible Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills and lighthearted personality. The submission grappling sensation will try to capture ONE gold when he faces rival Cleber Sousa for the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship.

Speaking to the promotion to share their predictions for the historic world title bout were some of ONE Championship’s most accomplished submission grappling stars, including ‘The Lion Killer’ Garry Tonon and Asian MMA legend Shinya Aoki.

Garry Tonon offered:

“I predict Mikey Musumeci will have a dominant performance. I believe he has a level up on the competition in his weight category right now."

Renato Canuto said:

“I’ve known of both these guys for about 10-plus years now. They both have great grappling abilities and are well-rounded. I’ve trained often with Mikey here in Las Vegas and can say first-hand that his understanding is on another level. Cleber has a more athletic approach, which can be also tricky to deal with. I think Mikey gets the W on this one, but I’d never count Cleber out!"

Jessa Khan stated:

“I think Mikey will win. I see him dominating the fight, then eventually submitting.”

Shinya Aoki remarked:

“I can't predict what kind of match it will be, but I think it's trending toward Musumeci to win the belt.”

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Mikey Musumeci discusses his loss to Cleber Sousa in 2017

When Mikey Musumeci and Cleber Sousa collide inside the circle, it will be the third time both competitors have met one another.

Their previous interactions came in 2017, with Sousa getting the best of ‘Darth Rigatoni’ at the 2017 Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Sousa scored a decision victory, and even though Musumeci got the win back against Sousa just one month later, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ says that he learned a lot from the loss.

“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.’"

Five years later, the two will meet in what could technically be considered a trilogy bout. With the series at 1-1, it’s clear that ONE Championship’s top grappling stars are backing Mikey Musumeci.

We'll find out if they're correct with their predictions at ONE on Prime Video 2.