Mikey “Darth Rigatoni” Musumeci is looking to make history in his next bout, but getting ready for it is not without its challenges. Musumeci is prepping for his next challenge. However, it appears his training session might be having a bit of problems.

The reigning ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion shoots his shot at two-sport supremacy when he challenges lightweight king Kade Ruotolo at ONE 168: Denver inside Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Friday, September 6, as the world’s largest martial arts organization returns to North America.

Mikey Musumeci faces challenges in recovery as he prepares for lightweight transition

Musumeci will need to move up several weight classes to make the match happen, and he outlined to ONE that, though he feels great, it hasn’t been seamless. “I don’t think I could be doing anything better than what I’m doing right now. I love it. The only thing that I’m struggling with is my recovery,” he said.

He further added, “It’s very difficult recovering when I’m training at this intensity – and I need to for lightweight because it’s more power. But the recovery is killing me a bit. So I’m really working hard to figure out how I could recover so I could keep doing this type of volume training.”

Reaching the level that “Darth Rigatoni” has got to comes from a lot of work and sacrifice. Many athletes in his chosen field have gone down the route of performance-enhancement drugs to find success, but Musumeci has always been adamant about staying natural. As a result, he has a more difficult time recovering from the intense training hours he needs to put in. However, it’s always been a point of pride for the 28-year-old, and he will gladly endure pain to prove that he is the best in the world at what he does.

Musumeci’s intense preparation ahead of his bout

“I literally feel the cortisol in my body, like, peak high, and then I have to try to remove the cortisol with breathing, but it’s a constant battle. But, that’s what it takes, though, for me to become the level that I’m becoming, and to do it naturally without steroids,” Musumeci said. “Recovery becomes almost like a training session to try to reset my nervous system from being so fried from the training I’m doing.”

The biggest match of his ONE Championship career is now less than a month away, and the Evolve MMA and Corbinha BJJ athlete is laser-focused on being in the best shape possible. As such, he is utilizing all available tools and eating whatever he needs to help his body recover.

“A lot of sleeping, a lot of walking, a lot of sauna – all these things I’m trying. I’m eating more sugar sometimes, too, because the sugar helps me sleep. Like, sometimes if I’m not eating enough sugar, I’ll wake up starving still. So it’s a constant battle, but, yeah, that’s honestly where I’m at right now,” Musumeci said.