“This was an experience” - Demetrious Johnson gets his BJJ reps in with fellow ONE world champ Mikey Musumeci in Las Vegas
Demetrious Johnson is one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, yet there are instances where he'd still feel like he had the short end of the stick. The reigning ONE flyweight MMA world champion recently traveled to Las Vegas, where he made one important stop at Faito Tamashii Combat Club to team up with Mikey Musumeci.
Johnson, arguably the best grappler in MMA history, wrote on Instagram that the ONE flyweight submission grappling world champion showed him that there are levels to the gentle art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Taking to Instagram, Demetrious Johnson wrote:
"Well, this was an experience 😂 there are truly levels to this game!! Thank you @mikeymusumeci for exposing me to them oooosssss!!"
Johnson is arguably the most tactical MMA fighter of all time, and eight of his 25 career wins have come by way of submission. Despite his lofty grappling game in MMA, Johnson was humble enough to acknowledge Musumeci's more advanced Brazilian jiu-jitsu knowledge.
Musumeci, a third-degree BJJ black belt, captured five world titles before joining ONE Championship in 2022. Upon arriving at the promotion, 'Darth Rigatoni' built a perfect 7-0 record with five submission finishes to his name.
The 28-year-old Las Vegas native is coming off an emotional submission win over old nemesis Gabriel Sousa in their bantamweight submission grappling clash at ONE 167.
Musumeci now heads to probably the biggest fight of his career when he challenges fellow superstar Kade Ruotolo for the ONE lightweight submission grappling world title at ONE 168: Denver on September 6 at Ball Arena.
Tickets for ONE 168 are available at Ticketmaster.
Demetrious Johnson also trains with Kade Ruotolo in California
Demetrious Johnson isn't playing favorites between Mikey Musumeci and Kade Ruotolo. The MMA legend was on a recent gym tour, and one of his stops was the Tenore HQ in Costa Mesa, California.
Johnson rolled with the Ruotolo twins, Tye and Kade, during his visit and also had the ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion as his guest in one of his MightyCast episodes.
In an interview with Bloody Elbow, Ruotolo said he took every chance to pick Johnson's thought process during their brief session.
"It was a really awesome day. I got to experience a lot of different techniques and talk about stories with him. So, it was super cool. He’s a legend. We did a super podcast."