"I had a lot of emotions" - Mikey Musumeci apologizes for uncharacteristic outburst after submitting rival Gabriel Sousa
ONE Championship fans saw a different side to Mikey Musumeci following his win at ONE 167 this past weekend.
'Darth Rigatoni' is usually incredibly relaxed and full of positivity after he is able to compete on a global stage.
For the flyweight submission grappling world champion, this most recent contest represented a lot of frustration in his career.
For a start, he had wanted to secure revenge over Gabriel Sousa for a long time, having been submitted by the Brazilian three years ago.
Musumeci has been chasing a rematch for some time now and was finally able to make it happen by moving up to the bantamweight division.
He spoke in his post-fight interview inside the cage about the criticism he has faced from fans and Sousa himself ever since this defeat back in 2021.
Not only that, he's aware that people often say he isn't facing the best opponents possible despite his clear willingness to step up to the plate just like he did inside the Impact Arena.
In the post-fight press conference, where the adrenaline of the victory had started to wear off, Musumeci took a moment to acknowledge his comments after getting his hand raised:
"First of all, I want to apologize for how emotional I was. It's not like me to be that extremely emotional, and I take accountability for that, and I'm constantly trying to learn and grow as a person, right? So I had a lot of emotions and I just let it out, right? So sorry guys about that."
Watch the full post-event press conference below:
Mikey Musumeci shouldn't need to apologize
It wasn't surprising to see Mikey Musumeci apologize for his comments after the fight given the way that he usually carries himself.
However, there wasn't anything he said that was untrue even if it did come from a very emotional and fired-up place.
'Darth Rigatoni' wanted to prove a point on June 7, one that he has wanted to make for a long time now and he did exactly that with a dominant performance and a calf slicer submission win.
ONE 167 is available to watch back in full for free via Prime Video for US and Canadian fans.