Mikey Musumeci moves up to bantamweight, faces old rival Gabriel Sousa at ONE 167 in Bangkok
Mikey Musumeci is moving up in weight and looking for retribution against the man who last defeated him in active competition.
The reigning ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion will move up to bantamweight to take on old rival Gabriel Sousa at ONE 167 on June 7 at Impact Arena in Bangkok.
ONE Championship announced the fight on its Instagram account:
"ONE 167 just got BIGGER 🚨 ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Champion Mikey Musumeci moves up to bantamweight in a quest to avenge a loss to former foe Gabriel Sousa 🔥 Who you got? @mikeymusumeci @gabrielsousabjj"
Sousa is a multi-time Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu pro champion and owns a win over Musumeci when they squared off in the 2021 Who's Number One tournament.
Musumeci, however, bounced back after that loss and hasn't experienced defeat since.
Darth Rigatoni racked up 14 straight wins and became the inaugural ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion in 2023.
Although Musumeci competed primarily at flyweight in ONE Championship, he already had a match outside the division's limits when he faced former ONE lightweight MMA world champion Shinya Aoki in an openweight submission grappling match at ONE Fight Night 15.
ONE 167 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Mikey Musumeci enlists help of BJJ legend Rubens 'Cobrinha' Charles in fight against Gabriel Sousa
Mikey Musumeci wants to make sure he has the best possible guidance when he exacts revenge against Gabriel Sousa in June.
'Darth Rigatoni' recently revealed that he had become the student of Rubens 'Cobrinha' Charles, and the BJJ legend was the one who promoted Musumeci to third-degree black belt.
In an Instagram post, Musumeci wrote that he makes the five-hour weekly drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to work with the 12-time BJJ world champion for his training camp against Sousa.
"The work begins! 10 weeks until my next match @onechampionship. Every week, I will be driving 5 hours to Los Angeles to train and learn from my coach professor @cobrinhacharles who will be leading my preparation!!!"