Mikey Musumeci just received both the second and third degree stripes on his BJJ black belt from legendary competitor and coach Rubens ‘Cobrinha’ Charles. Both of those promotions were obviously quite a long time overdue, which is why he received two degrees at the same time. The news has come just after Musumeci actually made the decision to start training under Cobrinha and representing his academy when he competes. It’s a big change in the landscape of the professional grappling world and it’ll be interesting to see what effect it has on both Musumeci’s grappling, and Cobrinha’s students as well.
The decision to change teams came after Musumeci traveled to Cobrinha BJJ in order to help Cobrinha’s son Kennedy Maciel prepare for the upcoming ADCC Trials. Although Musumeci might be able to have an impact on Maciel’s development in general, it’s also been an incredibly short time between their first training session and his first competition. It’ll likely be too early to tell how well this new partnership will go, but it won’t be long before fans are able to see their work together in the training room play out on the competition mats.
Rubens ‘Cobrinha’ Charles announced the news that he had awarded Mikey Musumeci the third degree on his BJJ black belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account. Musumeci did the same and added his own statement:
“I AM NOW THIRD DEGREE BLACK BELTCH!! Today was a very special day for me. I received my second and third degree stripes on my black belt from Professor Rubens ‘Cobrinha’ Charles. WHAT AN HONOR! I have been training jiu jitsu 23 years and now am a black belt for almost a decade (received my Black Belt at 18 years old) I’ve had many ups and downs, great memories, and heartbreaks but I am still here training and learning! Jiu jitsu is a big part of my life and will always be. Thank you to everyone that has helped me get to this point and has been a part of this journey. I could not have done it without each and every one of you. God bless everyone. Mashallah!!”
