Mikey Musumeci just earned himself some revenge in the rematch against Gabriel Sousa at ONE 167 on June 7th, 2024 as he secured a huge submission win. The match has been several years in the making, as the pair first met in the opening round of the WNO Championships in 2021. Sousa was able to get the submission win that time around but since then, both men have improved dramatically and had even more impressive results on the mat. Musumeci didn’t forget about the loss though and he’s actually been trying to convince ONE Championship to book the rematch for over a year.
ONE Championship finally caved in and booked Musumeci vs Sousa 2 for ONE 167, where Musumeci would be moving all the way up to bantamweight to get what he wanted. Sousa scored with a quick double-leg early on, dragging Musumeci to the cage wall in order to shut down some of his offense from closed guard. Musumeci started to invert and threaten Sousa’s arm, using his defensive reaction to hit a quick K-guard entry and start attacking Sousa’s legs instead. Musumeci got a grip on the ankle-lock quickly and started to apply pressure, reaping Sousa’s leg at the same time and earning himself a catch.
Sousa defended well and freed his leg but not before his knee was torqued at a bad angle in the process. Sousa turned away to escape and Musumeci quickly transitioned to a calf-slicer, controlling Sousa’s back with the bodylock to prevent the escape. Sousa was trying to counter with a toehold but Musumeci kept applying pressure and eventually forced him to tap just a little over the three-minute mark. The pair were exchanging words after the match too, and it was clear in the post-match interview that this win meant a lot to Musumeci.
Once his interview was done, Musumeci’s next opponent at ONE 168, Kade Ruotolo, stepped into the cage to stand alongside him. Musumeci will be moving even further up in weight to challenge Ruotolo for the lightweight title, and Ruotolo had already had some great results earlier in the night. He won his professional MMA debut in the very first round and when Musumeci got the chance to speak, he was nothing but complimentary ahead of their match:
“This is one guy I respect so much, I’m like your biggest fan., you’re f***ing awesome. that’s why I wanna roll with you, that’s what’s gonna make me better.”
ONE 167 Full Results
Tawanchai P.K. Saenchai defeats Jo Nattawut via Decision – Unanimous (Round 5, 3:00)
P.K. Saenchai retains the ONE featherweight Muay Thai world championship
Rodtang Jitmuangnon defeats Denis Puric via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
Mikey Musumeci defeats Gabriel Sousa via Submission – Calf Slicer (Round 1, 3:07)
Kade Ruotolo defeats Blake Cooper via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 1, 3:20)
Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong defeats Masaaki Noiri via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
Denice Zamboanga defeats Noelle Grandjean via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 5:00)
Adrian Lee defeats Antonio Mammarella via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 2, 1:56)
Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat defeats Johan Ghazali via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
Victoria Souza defeats Itsuki Hirata via Submission – Guillotine Choke (Round 1, 1:31)
Johan Estupinan defeats Zafer Sayik via Decision – Unanimous (Round 3, 3:00)
The full ONE 167 replay, including Mikey Musumeci getting his revenge in the rematch against Gabriel Sousa, is available to watch on Amazon Prime or the promotion’s official YouTube channel:
