Mikey Musumeci has missed weight and failed the hydration test that ONE Championship administer, meaning that he has now been stripped of the promotion’s flyweight submission grappling title. It’s a devastating blow for him, as he’s been one of their most consistent figures in their grappling divisions over the last few years. Musumeci has had more matches than anyone else at ONE Championship and he’s won every single one, never missing weight or failing the hydration test at any point in the past. In fairness to him though, this was far from a normal weight-cut and the events leading up to ONE 168 undoubtedly made it incredibly difficult for him.
Musumeci was originally supposed to move up to lightweight in order to challenge Kade Ruotolo for the title at ONE 168 on September 6th, 2024. Everything seemed fine up until just a few days before the match was supposed to take place, when Ruotolo revealed that he was injured and would have to withdraw from the match. That left the promotion scrambling to find a replacement on incredibly short notice, and that new match could have been made at any one of several different weight classes. Musumeci was due to compete at 170lbs and traditionally competes at 135lbs, so they also had the options of 145lbs and 155lbs matches as well.
Then Carlos ‘Bebeto’ Oliveira stepped into replace Ruotolo and it was announced that his match with Musumeci would be for Musumeci’s flyweight title. This meant that Musumeci was given approximately 3 days’ notice that the weight he had to reach had changed from 170lbs to 135lbs. That is an incredible difference that would simply be impossible for many competitors, but Musumeci attempted to do it anyway. He missed the weight limit of course but considering the situation, it was incredible that he managed to even weigh in at 141lbs. Mikey Musumeci failed the hydration test too and was stripped of his ONE Championship title as a result, but the match could have gone ahead at a catchweight limit and Carlos ‘Bebeto’ Oliveira would still have been crowned champion if he won.
That option was apparently in negotiation as soon as Musumeci missed weight, but it was later confirmed that he withdrew from the catchweight match altogether. That led to the match being scrapped from the ONE 168 card and the event will instead go ahead without a co-main event. The ONE flyweight submission grappling world championship is now vacant as a result, and the most likely next stage is that Musumeci is given the opportunity to regain his title in his next match and it will most likely be against Carlos ‘Bebeto’ Oliveira at a future date.
ONE Championship announced the news that Mikey Musumeci had missed weight and been stripped of his flyweight title in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
