ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci may be looking to bring his aggressive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skill set to the world of mixed martial arts soon.
“Darth Rigatoni” appears intrigued by the notion of donning the four-ounce gloves in ONE Championship at some point in the future, and he believes he has the support system around him to develop the necessary skills to compete on the global stage.
“I definitely have a cool group of guys that could mentor and influence me into MMA eventually,” Musumeci told ONE.
“I want to fight in the future. I would love to. I love challenging myself, and I love the challenge of it, and I would love to make my jiu-jitsu work with punches being thrown. I think that would be the coolest thing ever.”
Musumeci has been near flawless since joining ONE. The New Jersey native’s devastating submissions have elevated his star power to new heights, and he has helped bring the sport of submission grappling to new audiences.
With so much success under his belt, the flyweight titleholder has been eyeing other divisions within ONE’s submission grappling ranks. However, if he makes a run at MMA gold, he will stay in his natural division.
“If I did MMA, I would be in the 125-pound division. I think I’m really physically strong for that weight class, so I think that – if I learn stand-up from these best guys – I would have a really good shot,” Musumeci said.
“Darth Rigatoni’s” cerebral submission game has given good insight into how the American trains. Despite his incredible achievements, he is constantly focused on improving, and that is the same mindset he would bring into MMA.
Musumeci is obviously focused on developing his all-around skill set in order to plan a foray into MMA, but he would still lean on his BJJ expertise in the hopes of showing how effective it can be even in today’s MMA world.
“When I think about doing MMA, I think of it just like I think of jiu-jitsu: mastering whatever I’m working on. In jiu-jitsu, I don’t think about being a champion. I think about just being the best at whatever I’m working on, perfecting my moves. And that’s what makes me become a champion,” Musumeci said.
“I feel like in stand-up, it will be the same thing. I’ll want to learn stand-up [so I could] be the best I can be in stand-up, and that [indirect] result will be me winning World Titles. I think my work ethic, how I train, and everything, is perfect to become an MMA World Champion.”
Although he is not planning an immediate shift into MMA, the submission grappling superstar is putting his plan out into the universe. Only time will tell when he decides to act on the next stage of his career, but it will undoubtedly be worth a watchful eye.