Mikey Musumeci is one of the key figures in UFC BJJ and he recently explained why he thinks that the new promotion is good for the growth of Jiu-Jitsu. Obviously the biggest combat sports promotion in the world has tons of money to throw at any avenue they pursue, and they’ve even announced an eight-figure investment into Jiu-Jitsu specifically. That amount of money can do a lot of things in any niche sport, but there are already similar examples in BJJ too. The inaugural Craig Jones Invitational was done off the back of a $3 million investment and it had an incredible impact on the sport.
When talking with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson, Mikey Musumeci explained that he thinks one of the key differences with UFC BJJ is who it’s actually aimed at:
“It’s a different segment, that’s what we’re trying to do here. We already have our Jiu-Jitsu people, we’re all addicted. We love Jiu-Jitsu! Now we’re trying to get more people into it.”
Although Musumeci became the promotion’s inaugural bantamweight world champion at UFC BJJ 1, he actually played a key role much earlier than that too:
“I met with Hunter (Campbell), Claudia (Gadelha), (Stephen) Tecci, the guys from the UFC, the people… and we made a plan like how can we grow this sport the most. So I got behind this plan for them that they were gonna have divisions, we’re gonna have this Ultimate Fighter, we’re gonna do drug testing… Everything I wanted for this sport to grow!”
Increased testing for PEDs has been one of Musumeci’s top priorities for quite some time, and many people would agree with him that it will advance the sport. It’s not quite as straightforward as that though, as there are plenty of competitors who would disagree with him as well. Regardless, Musumeci still believes that everything as a package will help grow Jiu-Jitsu:
“I think that us having these professional things is what we need for grappling to become a professional thing, where people like your children could do that.”
The full interview with Mikey Musumeci where he explains why he thinks UFC BJJ will be good for the growth of Jiu-Jitsu was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Demetrious Johnson:
