"Can't wait to see this" - Fans ready to witness Gabriel Sousa reignite rivalry with Mikey Musumeci at ONE 167
Fight fans online are growing more restless by the day as they count down Gabriel Sousa's debut matchup against former grappling rival Mikey Musumeci at ONE 167.
The expert jiu-jitsu stylist is the last man to have submitted Musumeci via a North South Choke when they competed at Who's Number One in 2021.
It was indeed a hard-fought chess match as it took Sousa 11 minutes to pass Musumeci's iron guard within the 15-minute time frame.
With that said, if Sousa manages to replicate what he did before, it could mean major world title implications for the Brazilian grappler since Musumeci is undefeated in ONE Championship and holds ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship.
Based on this criteria alone, the fans are therefore excited to see how their rematch unfolds on the largest martial arts stadium in the world.
Rooting for Sousa, here's what they've been saying about his epic matchup with Musumeci.
A fan wrote:
"Can't wait to see this amazing!"
Check out more fan reactions below:
ONE 167 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada on Friday, June 7.
"Mikey is an exceptional athlete!" - Gabriel Sousa can't deny that Mikey Musumeci is one of the most refined grapplers in the history of submission grappling
Gabriel Sousa understands better than anyone that Mikey Musumeci is the real deal.
Despite having defeated the American star once before, Sousa continues to believe that his rival is certainly the cream of the crop in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Ahead of his ONE 167 debut, he told ONE:
"Mikey is an exceptional athlete! He is really bada*s. He has an out-of-this-world guard game."
Indeed, Musumeci is a master jiu-jitsu artist. Due to his innovative leg lock submissions and risk-taking personality, he has helped carry the burden of putting submission grappling on the map, which no one can deny or take away. He continues to push boundaries that haven't been crossed before, surprising fans with his ability to go one-on-one with opponents across different weight categories.
Musumeci will certainly want revenge against Sousa, and he will go to whatever lengths to get that loss back.