Mikey Musumeci took on Osamah Almarwai at ONE Fight Night 10 on May 5th, 2023 in a superb matchup for his flyweight submission grappling title. ONE Championship booked the match as Musumeci’s second title-defense, against the reigning IBJJF no gi world champion. It was great matchmaking by the promotion as it would account for Musumeci’s absence from the tournament in 2022. If he was able to defeat Almarwai then it would be likely that Musumeci would have won it if he had entered and the only thing left for him at his weight would really be the reigning ADCC world champion, or fun superfights like the one he’s proposed against Demetrious Johnson.
Musumeci started the match by offering his leg to encourage Almarwai to take him down, before pulling guard when he wouldn’t take the bait. He catches one of Almarwai’s legs as he tries to disengage and immediately he starts working on a false reap. Musumeci gets the entry into the saddle but Almarwai remains standing and does a good job of freeing his knee-line at first, but Musumeci readjusts and sits him down to regain the knee-line. He starts working on a straight-ankle lock but Almarwai stands and does a good job of dealing with the threat, before sitting down to start his escape from the position.
Musumeci switches legs and starts attacking another straight ankle-lock, but Almarwai is using his free leg to relieve the pressure and survive. Musumeci switches to a heel hook and gets some torque on it, but Almarwai manages to free himself again and returns to standing. Musumeci inverts and gets another saddle entry, immediately trying to get a good bite on the heel. Almarwai deals with the threat once again but Musumeci readjusts and switches between attacking the heel hook and the straight-ankle lock brilliantly to keep Almarwai in constant danger.
Musumeci gets to single-leg X and attacks the heel hook again, but Almarwai counters by attempting to take his back. He isn’t able to get close enough so Almarwai stands once again, with Musumeci doing an amazing job of pummeling his legs in and looking for a new leg-entanglement. Musumeci is just as relentless at ONE Fight Night 10 as he was in his last match, attempting a Mikey lock and switching to a heel hook from backside 50/50 as Almarwai defends. This is probably the deepest submission attempt of the match but Almarwai is doing a great job of keeping himself safe right at latest stage possible.
Almarwai rolls to escape but Musumeci follows him once again and gets another deep bite on the heel from 50/50. Almarwai gets fully out for the first time in a while and returns to standing to try and work leg-pin passing, before switching to a knee-cut pass. Musumeci starts attacking the legs once again but as Almarwai sits to defend, he stands up to pass and secures the sweep. He starts passing heavy and looks for a d’arce choke but Almarwai turtles to defend. Musumeci gets one hook in quickly and brings Almarwai backwards to trap an arm with his second hook.
Musumeci switches to a body-triangle with the arm still trapped and starts working on the rear-naked choke, sinking it in and forcing the tap within a matter of seconds. Mikey Musumeci defending his title in impressive fashion wasn’t the only grappling match of the night at ONE Fight Night 10 though, as Tye Ruotolo won a unanimous decision against Reinier de Ridder earlier on in the night.
ONE Fight Night 10 Full Results
Demetrious Johnson defeats Adriano Moraes via Decision – Unanimous
Johnson retains the ONE Championship Flyweight MMA World Championship
Rodtang Jitmuangnon defeats Edgar Tabares via Knockout – Elbow
Jitmuangnon retains the ONE Championship Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship
Mikey Musumeci defeats Osamah Almarwai via Submission – Rear-naked Choke
Musumeci retains the ONE Championship Flyweight Submission Grappling World Championship
Stamp Fairtex defeats Alyse Anderson via Knockout – Body Kick
Zebaztian Kadestam defeats Roberto Soldic via Knockout – Punches
Sage Northcutt defeats Ahmed Mujtaba via Submission – Heel Hook
Aung La Nsang defeats Fan Rong via Submission – Guillotine
Jackie Buntan defeats Diandra Martin via TKO – Punch
Tye Ruotolo defeats Reinier de Ridder via Decision – Unanimous
Kairat Akhmetov defeats Reece McLaren via Decision – Unanimous
Ok Rae Yoon defeats Lowen Tynanes via Decision – Unanimous
The full ONE Fight Night 10 event, including the match between Mikey Musumeci and Osamah Almarwai is available to watch on the official ONE Championship YouTube channel:
