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Reigning flyweight submission grappling champion Mikey Musumeci has impressed one and all with his performances inside the ring. However, he is still not perfect as revealed by him in the latest social media post. The five-time IBJJF black belt World Champion had an amusing take on his calves as he introduced his latest tutorial video. During the video, he said, “So today I am gonna talk about something I am very insecure about. And I’ve struggled with this my whole life honestly. In my last match, it was basically me overcompensating for this. As you guys can see, I’m calf-less and I lived my whole life calf-less.”
In an attempt to explain his penchant for chasing calf slicers – including his latest performance against Gabriel Sousa – he shared, “So that’s why I love calf slicers, because I don’t have calves so I could overcompensate for not having calves by taking people’s calves off. ” On a more serious note, Musumeci has also revealed another insecurity recently. On a social media post, he talked about his black eye and mentioned he was ‘cool’ about it.
Mikey Musumeci shares the story behind his famous black eye
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28-year-old “Darth Rigatoni” has already amassed a lot of fans because of his success inside the ring. However, he is slowly and surely gaining more because of the things he is doing outside of it. As a professional fighter, Musumeci is openly talking about his insecurities, hoping to set an example for countless others. Apart from his take about his calves, he recently shed light on his famous black eye which has been a topic of constant conversation. However, it doesn’t really bother the 28-year-old.
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He took to Instagram to share the story behind it and said, “Black Eye???? – A lot of people always ask me if I have a black eye since I was a kid!” Musumeci added, “It’s actually a birthmark although I must admit I used to enjoy making up fun stories about how I got this “black eye.” I was offered to get my birthmark removed via Lazer as a kid, but refused because God gave me this birthmark and I think it’s cool.”
His insecurities have had no effect on the performances of “Darth Rigatoni” though. The 28-year-old is fresh off a victory against Gabriel Sousa in a bantamweight submission grappling match at ONE 167 and is up for his next big challenge. Musumeci will take on Kade Ruotolo for the ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling World Title. The fight is scheduled for September 6 at ONE: 168 Denver and fans could not wait to see it go down.
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Turning weaknesses into strengths—Is Mikey Musumeci the ultimate example of resilience in MMA?
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Both Musumeci and Ruotolo are excited about the fight and shared their opinion on the whole.
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Kade Ruotolo and Mikey Musumeci excited to face each other at ONE 168: Denver
During the recent ONE:167 event at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand grappling superstars Ruotolo and Musumeci won their respective fights. The pair is now set to face each other in an exciting contest at the ONE:168 event in Denver. 28-year-old Musumeci will move up several weight classes to challenge Ruotolo for the ONE Lightweight Submission Grappling world title. However, unlike most fights, in this epic clash, there is no trash-talking involved, as they have huge respect for each other.
During the ONE: 167 event, Ruotolo won his first professional MMA clash but seemed more excited to face Musumeci next. According to the Californian, the showdown with Musumeci is significant because both are steroid-free athletes–a sad rarity in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ruotolo said, “It’s gonna be an amazing fight and I’m looking forward to it.”
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Musumeci was also quick to respond and added, “We’re gonna make the biggest fight in jiu-jitsu history – the two natural people that don’t take any steroids or cheat.” Both fighters appear to be in good spirits before their fight, and it will certainly be a fight to watch out for in September.
Who do you think will win between the two best grapplers? Let us know in the comments below.
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Turning weaknesses into strengths—Is Mikey Musumeci the ultimate example of resilience in MMA?