"It's easier to train" - Gabriel Sousa glad his sole focus is on Mikey Musumeci in grappling war at ONE 167
The last time Gabriel Sousa grappled against Mikey Musumeci was in a one-night tournament where he also had to worry about multiple combatants.
At ONE 167 this coming June 7, these two world-class submission artists will run it back inside Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
This time around, though, Sousa relishes the fact that beating Musumeci will be the only one on his mind.
Appearing in an interview on Vitor Freitas Comunica's YouTube page, the 27-year-old grappler discussed traditional BJJ tournaments, where participants take on several opponents as they advance through the bracket.
Of course, this means dealing with different types of combatants with varying styles. Sousa shared:
"Sometimes, you train for the Worlds for six weeks. But you have 30 athletes in your group and you won't study the game of 30 athletes. So, you have to focus on you. It's not that I'm focusing on Mikey's game, but it's something where you can get an idea of what direction the fight will take and do specific things."
Meanwhile, Sousa already bested Mikey Musumeci before, submitting him via north-south choke back in 2021.
Now, he vows to put on an even better performance since his sole attention will be on 'Darth Rigatoni'. He added:
"I think it's easier to train for a single 10-minute fight than for seven 10-minute fights against athletes that you have no idea of who those athletes will be."
Watch the full interview:
Gabriel Sousa extremely wary of Mikey Musumeci's leg attacks
While Sousa already has experience when it comes to passing Mikey Musumeci's intricate guard, he knows he can't make a mistake when dealing with the flyweight submission grappling king's vaunted leg lock arsenal.
In the same interview, the Brazilian said he learned from Musumeci's previous opponents, who fell victim to his death traps. Sousa explained:
"The most important thing is to understand the heel hook. To know how I'm going to turn and how I'm going to be less exposed. I've seen a lot of people hurt their knee because they thought they were turning it the right way, when in fact, it was helping the knee twist and hurting themselves."
ONE 167 will air live on US Primetime, free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.