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2023 has been an incredible year for the ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion, Mikey Musumeci.
Coming into the year with gold resting on his shoulder, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ has secured three title defenses throughout the year with another triumph over a legend of the game.
His first match-up of the year arguably generated the most conversation of any of his appearances inside the Circle this year.
Defending his title against Gantumur Bayanduuren, Musumeci got his hand raised via a unanimous decision at the end of the time limit.
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The contest will live forever in notoriety because of the grueling submission attacks that the challenger chose to grit out, doing significant damage to his legs in the process.
Musumeci didn’t look back too favorably on the contest at the time as putting an opponent through that kind of trauma due to their own stubbornness isn’t something he thrives on.
As 2023 comes to a close, Mikey Musumeci was able to look back on this experience as a crazy moment in his career:
“I started my year fighting [Gantumur Bayanduuren], a current sambo world champion. And I messed up his leg, like that was pretty disgusting. It was a really interesting way to start 2023, right?”
Mikey Musumeci has produced multiple iconic moments throughout 2023
When looking back at his year retrospectively, the Bayanduuren contest is sure to remain in the memory for Mikey Musumeci and his fans.
That isn’t to say he peaked early on in the year as ‘Darth Rigatoni’ had a host of great moments that have really defined his run in ONE Championship this year.
His hero’s welcome at ONE’s U.S. debut event, ONE Fight Night 10, showed just how far submission grappling has come in recent years.
Not to mention his submission win over Shinya Aoki where he beat a legend with his own signature move, the Aoki Lock.
Musumeci has really risen to the status of leading the way for submission grappling this year with several superstar moments that prove his worth.
