Mikey Musumeci just revealed that he was suffering with some pretty serious but completely unknown health issues when he made his UFC Fight Pass Invitational debut. He was one of the faces of the ONE Championship submission grappling division and their flyweight world champion for almost two years, so naturally there was going to be a lot of attention on his first match outside the promotion. He made headlines towards the end of 2024 when he announced his decision to leave ONE Championship pretty abruptly, with fans immediately questioning where they might see him competing for in the next stage of his career.
It wasn’t long before they got their answer though, as Musumeci became the first grappler to sign an exclusive contract with UFC Fight Pass and announced his debut opponent as Felipe Machado. The match was booked to serve as the main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 just a few weeks after the announcement was made, and on paper this would be a good matchup for Musumeci to test his skills against another high-level grappler. He was relentless in chasing the finish throughout the match and although he never was able to find it, he did come away with the win on points in the end regardless.
Now it seems as though there may be more to him not being able to finish Felipe Machado, as Mikey Musumeci has just revealed health issues that he didn’t even know about at the time of the match. It’s not entirely surprising either, as he was actually hospitalised with a torn lung just a matter of months before the match took place. At first glance it doesn’t appear as though the two experiences are actually related though, as these recent problems have come from three stomach ulcers. Musumeci explained that they may be stress-related, and an elite competitor travelling all around the world is likely to experience a lot of stress.
Mikey Musumeci revealed the health issues he suffered with during his UFC Fight Pass Invitational debut in a recent story posted to his official Instagram account:
