"You end up losing yourself" - Gabriel Sousa on why he prefers to focus on his own strengths over Mikey Musumeci's

Decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) star Gabriel Sousa will make his ONE Championship debut at ONE 167 on June 7 and is ready to give it his all by then.

Sousa's opponent will be longtime rival and reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci, as the two are set to go to war inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Gabriel Sousa recently spoke with El Estudio de Leo on how he and his camp have solely focused on what he does best instead of pinpointing Musumeci's weaknesses:

"If you focus too much on the other person, you end up losing yourself. So I know where I'm at and what I'm made of, I know what he's going to do, and I know what he's going to do."

Sousa has one of the most amazing accomplishments in his BJJ career as he remains to this day the only man to have ever defeated 'Darth Rigatoni' via submission when they faced each other in 2021.

Fans can expect both men to have learned greatly from their opponents since their first meeting and they could be treated to a hyper-competitive bantamweight submission grappling affair at ONE 167.

Gabriel Sousa foresees Mikey Musumeci repeating his mistakes from 2021 clash

Athletes competing in a rematch, be it in a team setting or a one-versus-one situation like in combat sports, can expect some tendencies from their opponent and Sousa believes that will be the case.

In an interview with Vitor Freitas Comunica, Gabriel Sousa said:

"I believe that in this rematch, the same thing will happen as in our first fight. He's going to pull guard because you don't see him relying on his wrestling too much. He has a very good guard, he attacks heel hooks and foot locks very well."

ONE 167 will air live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.