“We have to make these fights beautiful” - Mikey Musumeci says the pressure is on to keep grappling matches exciting in ONE Championship

ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci feels like the pressure is on to keep jiu-jitsu matches exciting in ONE Championship.

The Italian-American phenom is officially due to fight on the first-ever US card in Colorado on May 5, so he’s feeling more pressure than usual to make this bout into a watchable experience for non-jiu-jitsu audiences.

At ONE Fight Night 10: Johnson vs. Moraes III, Musumeci will be facing BJJ world champion Osamah Almarwai for his second world title defense in ONE Championship. Thrilled to fight against a high-level IBJJF world champion like Almarwai, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ only expects fireworks in their upcoming clash.

Speaking to Jiu-Jitsu Times, Musumeci candidly said:

“I have a lot of pressure right now to keep jiu-jitsu on the ONE Championship platform. To do that, we need to keep these matches exciting. If the matches are boring, and MMA fans are like, ‘What is that s**t?’, we’re screwed. So we have to make these fights beautiful.”

Thus far, Mikey Musumeci has never been accused of putting on a boring show. His latest performance on January 13 caught the attention of the entire combat sports world, albeit in a gruesome manner. At ONE Fight Night 6: Superbon vs. Allazov, Musumeci successfully retained his belt by unanimous decision, but not before breaking his opponent’s knee in the process of looking for the finish.

Unfortunately, Musumeci received some flak online from fans for not letting go, but in his defense, both the referee and his opponent kept the time running until the end. Those who understand the sport, though, believe that anyone in the American’s position would have done the same, and it was up to the opponent to know when to tap.

Heading towards his next grappling bout, Musumeci hopes this rare occurrence doesn’t happen again. He’s confident that his next challenger will know what to do if he were to lock in a submission.

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BJJ star Marcus Almeida says he never misses a Mikey Musumeci fight

ONE heavyweight contender Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida recently explained why he never misses a Mikey Musumeci fight.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the 17-time BJJ world champion said he was impressed by Musumeci’s well-rounded grappling style. Although many fans don’t understand the scope of Musumeci’s rare talents, ‘Buchecha’ hoped to shed light on the subject by explaining why Musumeci is one of the hardest grapplers to beat in the sport.

“I wouldn’t miss a Mikey Musumeci fight. Mikey Musumeci showed why he is the champion and why no one has taken the belt away from him. He showed jiu-jitsu that was beautiful to watch and very technical. Even if the guy is tough and doesn’t give up, the opponent will need to have something more to beat Mikey.”