“You f*cking put them in their place” - Mikey Musumeci on how he stopped bullies when he was younger

Reigning and undisputed ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion 'Darth Rigatoni' Mikey Musumeci has had to deal with a lot of bullying growing up, which he says is because he didn't quite fit in socially among his peers.

Things changed however, when he discovered the 'gentle art' of jiu-jitsu and began turning people into human pretzels. It was only then that the bullying stopped, and the era of 'Darth Rigatoni' began.

Speaking in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Musumeci explained where his recent display of character came from, and how he dealt with bullies when he was younger.

The 27-year-old Italian-American star said:

"The thing about me is that you should understand, I have a lot of trauma in my life from when I was a kid. People who are being very alpha and bullying (me). So when these people bring that part of out of me, I'm a bully to the people who I feel are bullying me. Does that make sense? Some people don't like that. But how do you stop a bully from being a bully? You fucking put them in their place."

Today, Musumeci is one of the pound-for-pound best submission grapplers in the world, and he is the flyweight king in the world's largest martial arts organization.

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'Darth Rigatoni' Mikey Musumeci guns for two-division glory against Kade Ruotolo at ONE 168: Denver

Flyweight submission grappling world champion 'Darth Rigatoni' Mikey Musumeci will attempt to lift the lightweight gold from fellow American Kade Ruotolo when the two meet in a superfight at ONE 168: Denver.

The event takes place live from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Friday, September 6th.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action absolutely free with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.