The famed ONE Championship submission grappler, Mikey Musumeci, had a meteoric rise in the promotion. The US-native claimed the Flyweight submission grappling world title within just one year of his ONE joining. Musumeci has been matched up against Osamah Almarwai for the first-ever ONE Championship event in the US. But recently he gave out his opinion on how he was worried about his ONE Fight Night 10 matchup.

Being a long-time practitioner of grappling-based martial arts, Musumeci knows that they can often be boring and repetitive for audiences. ‘Darth Rigatoni’ recently told ‘South China Morning Post’ how he was under some pressure to make his ONE Fight Night 10 bout an interesting one. It might be Musumeci’s home crowd due to which he is keen to present an entertaining bout.

Mikey Musumeci wasn’t someone who crumbled under pressure

In his interview with ‘The Post’, Musumeci touched upon a number of other points related to his bout. Initially, he spoke about how he had seen a lot break down under pressure as he mentioned, “A lot of people break from pressure. That’s something I’ve noticed about people”. But, ‘Darth Rigatoni’ was probably built a bit differently.

He also talked about his and Almarwai’s responsibility to make the matchup an enthralling one to attract more fans to BJJ. Musumeci iterated, “Me and [Almarwai] have a huge responsibility. Jiu-jitsu can be boring to people that don’t know jiu-jitsu”.

He revealed how pressure situations actually bring out the best in him. Musumeci iterated, “I feel like one gift I’ve always had is, whenever I get more pressure, it brings out a better version of me. I’m excited to see how I’m able to perform with this pressure. It’s going to push me.”

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Well, the conditions of ‘Darth Rigatoni’s’ opponent, Osamah Almarwai, were pretty much similar prior. The Yemenese also talked to ‘South China Morning Post’ and revealed, “I feel there’s a lot of pressure for us to represent grappling, represent jiu-jitsu. We have to make an exciting show. We’re representatives of the sport”. The 30-year-old, also stated that he wanted to represent the entire Middle East in ONE.

Both Mikey Musumeci and Osamah Almarwai wanted a submission victory

Along with the responsibility to entertain, both fighters implied that they wanted to finish the bout within the scheduled time. Almarwai revealed his confidence, stating, “It’s not going to be easy to submit Mikey, I’m not saying this, but I believe in myself, I believe in my team, I believe in my training, and I’m confident I can get the tap.”

It was probably his training camp with the noted ONE Championship fighter, Andre Galvao, which had made Almarwai believe that he could win it all. On the other hand, Musumeci also showcased his confidence about getting a submission victory.

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‘Darth Rigatoni’ stated, “When I go out in this match I’m just going to sprint at him. I expect him to do the same … Kill or be killed. That’s the mindset”. Many would agree that such iterations are bound to get the viewers hyped up for the bout.

So will you also be tuning in to watch the Mikey Musumeci vs Osamah Almarwai bout?