UFC Fight Pass
BJJ Phenom Mikey Musumeci Is Changing The Game
Decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Practitioner Mikey Musumeci Makes UFC FIGHT PASS Debut In The Main Event At UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 On December 5, 2024
Mikey Musumeci is a star.
You might assume that’s a given, considering his status in the jiu-jitsu world and the reality that he was the first grappler signed to the UFC. But there’s more to it than that, because there a lot of elite athletes in combat sports, yet only a select few have what it takes to transcend their sport.
To do that, it takes charisma, personality and the ability to bring their sport not just to the converted, but to those who may have never seen it before.
Order UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura
Enter the 28-year-old from Marlboro, New Jersey, who has all those attributes, and is willing to use them to introduce the masses to grappling at its highest level.
“I could connect the most to the people because I am not this typical robot fighter,” said Musumeci, who faces Felipe Machado on the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 card on December 5 in Las Vegas. “I am this nerdy college kid that could fight all the ‘fighter people’ and I'm able to beat them all. I feel like people could connect way more to me than others. Another thing I would say is, I feel like I set a really good example for others and children that are coming up in this sport with my values as a martial artist and a person. I'm really against steroids. I'm all for respect and I really bring out the values of martial arts, I feel, and I feel like people could feel my authenticity with my energy. I have a very strong light, and I feel like people are able to feel that light around me.”
The third-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is quite decorated on the mats as a four-time world champion, a Pan American champion, and a five-time IBJJF world champion, the first American to win more than one IBJJF at the black belt level. All before turning 30. So call him a phenom if you must, but make sure you call him for dinner, which always has to be pizza and pasta.
“You understand that it's in our blood to eat like that, right?” asks the proud Italian-American, and while he lives in Las Vegas these days and has found some go-to spots when he doesn’t make his own pies in the oven in his home, his pizza-loving roots are back in his parents’ hometown of Brooklyn.
All Things UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9
And as an avowed pizza snob, I am impressed that he knows his stuff, from L&B Spumoni Gardens to Lucali on Henry Street. That diet already made Musumeci my wife’s favorite fighter, and she’s probably not the last to adopt him as their own.
“I don't do anything else,” Musumeci laughs. “I don't drink, I don't party, I don't do anything. All I do is eat pizza and train. So I feel like in terms of my consistency as an athlete, I could compete another 20 years and be consistent the same way I am now and I could really spread and grow our sport of jiu-jitsu to the world and show the values that children could grow up and match to how I am, as well.”
See, this young man isn’t like the other fighters. He laughs.
“It's authentic,” he said of his personality. “I think it's a little different and people could feel that I'm not just this robot. You interview a lot of these guys, they're like, ‘I fight hard.’ It's the same stuff over and over. It's boring.”
Of course, none of this means anything if Musumeci doesn’t show up on December 5. And he can’t just win against Machado. He’s got to impress and he’s got to be entertaining. Does he feel that pressure?
FPI 9: Full Fight Card | Rules & Scoring
“A hundred percent,” he deadpans. “I'm f**king dying. (Laughs) But, yeah, for sure. I have a lot of pressure right now, but, at the same time, I'm just grateful for the pressure. I have the best opportunity of my life and UFC's given me this opportunity, so I'm grateful and blessed for it and I'm so eager to use that pressure as fuel and it just makes me stronger. I've learned how to use the pressure as energy because we can use anything as energy - dark, good, all these things. So I feel like I have a gift that no matter how much chaos, no matter how much pressure I have, I'm able to use that as energy and fuel and function in it very well.”
He doesn’t sound like the pressure is weighing him down, and there’s no deer in the headlights look as he makes the media rounds in the lead-up to his FPI main event. You’d almost assume that he’s done this his whole life, and that would be fairly accurate, as he first put a gi on at the age four. And while he’s spent nearly a quarter century on the mats, there were times when he wanted to go in another direction.
Mikey Musumeci Pre-Match Interview | FPI 9
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Mikey Musumeci Pre-Match Interview | FPI 9
/
“There were many times in my life that I wanted to stop competing and just go to law school,” he said. “First, I wanted to be a doctor, so I had a full seat for medical school. Then I got a full scholarship for law school, and I just wanted to leave our sport. But every time I was going to leave, I wasn't allowed. God brought me back to this sport over and over. So I accepted that I'm here for a reason.”
That reason is to spread the gospel of the gentle art to whoever isn’t already on board. But make no mistake about it, the way Musumeci competes, it’s not two people wrestling in pajamas. He’s looking to go home early and get back to the pizza oven.
Sign Up For UFC FIGHT PASS Today To Watch FPI 9 On December 5
“The first thing is I think that people have to understand that how violent jiu-jitsu is,” he said. “Because when you watch MMA or Muay Thai or boxing, somebody could get knocked out, so that automatically makes everyone excited, like, ‘Oh my God, this person could get knocked out with any punch.’ So the problem is that in jiu-jitsu, we don't have knockout punching, so it could be a little more confusing to understand, but it's so violent also because any joint that you attack, you could break.”
Musumeci goes on to recall his One Championship bout against Gantumur Bayanduuren, where the American left his foe with a torn ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus, and a broken ankle.
“And I was on a card with Muay Thai, kickboxing and MMA,” he said. “It was the most violent match out of all the fights on the card. So I think that people have to understand first how violent jiu-jitsu is. And I think that understanding the violence of it, it gives you more of a respect toward it, first of all, and the consequences of an attack. I think that as we get the sport to grow more and more, people will start learning the beauty of it. It's such a puzzle, like a math problem where every position's a reaction and then you solve the problem. And then nerdy people like me are able to fight macho, tough guy-looking people because it's just thinking. And I think that that's another beautiful part of jiu-jitsu. It’s one sport where a little guy and a big guy could fight and the little guy could win because it's on the floor. I once beat someone 400 pounds and I was like 135 pounds. So it just shows you the beauty of our sport, how size doesn't matter as much. It's all thinking.”
FOLLOW @UFCNEWS: On Facebook | On Instagram | On X
From “Darth Rigatoni” back to the nerdy kid with his own pizza oven, all within the space of a paragraph. But that’s why you want to see what Musumeci does next. And you don’t have long to wait for the next one. In the meantime, he’s training, eating pizza and pasta and adjusting the growing target on his back.
“What you learn in this industry and in life, is that you get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Musumeci said. “So I'm comfortable now being uncomfortable. I know that I'm not supposed to be comfortable right now and I'm grateful for that because it's going to make me grow and become bigger and better. So I'm just excited to use this uncomfortability as fuel, as energy. It's an advantage for me to have this feeling.”
Tags
