Mikey Musumeci is apparently already in the process of booking his next UFC BJJ opponent, and it should be none other than BJJ legend Joao Miyao. It’s far from the first time that they would have shared the mats with one another too, as they’ve crossed paths 5 times before. They date back as far as 2015 when Musumeci was a relative unknown and brand new to competing at the black belt level, where Miyao was one of his first opponents. Miyao on the other hand was already an accomplished competitor with an IBJJF World Championship title and a top-four finish at ADCC to his name.
Not only did Musumeci win that initial meeting but he actually won all 5 of them, with their final match coming in the 2017 IBJJF World Championship final. Both of them have left that event behind in recent years, although it’s been for very different pursuits. Musumeci has been competing in no gi exclusively and has tied his career to major promotions, starting initially with ONE Championship before moving on to UFC BJJ. Miyao is about 5 years older than Musumeci though so he’s actually been enjoying competition with much lower stakes, as he’s made the transition to becoming a masters competitor instead.
Assuming that UFC BJJ does manage to finalise this match, it would serve as Musumeci’s second bantamweight title-defense after his first against Keven Carrasco at UFC BJJ 3 a week ago. He’s the only bantamweight champion that the promotion has ever known and he’s been with them since the start, winning his belt by submitting Rerisson Gabriel at UFC BJJ 1. It would be a huge opportunity for Miyao of course; as it would mark his return to the highest level of the sport and given how much money the UFC is reportedly investing in their Jiu-Jitsu project, it may well be the most he’s ever been paid to compete.
Mikey Musumeci revealed that his UFC BJJ title-defense against Joao Miyao was in the works in a recent story posted to his official Instagram account:
